Christopher Fox, Baron Fox
The Lord Fox | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats | |
| In office 2009–2011 | |
| Preceded by | Chris Rennard |
| Succeeded by | Tim Gordon |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 11 September 2014 Life Peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 September 1957 Surrey, UK |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Imperial College London |
Christopher Francis Fox, Baron Fox (born 27 September 1957) is a British Liberal Democrat politician.
Education and early career
Fox grew up in Herefordshire, attending Leominster Grammar School.[1] He went on to study at Imperial College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in chemistry.[2] During his time at university Fox spent a year as President of the Imperial College Students' Union.[3][4]
Fox’s professional career began with engineering roles in the petroleum and nuclear industries. From 1998 to 2005 he worked at Tate & Lyle, before joining Smiths Group and, later, GKN, as Group Director of Communications.[5][6]
Fox served as Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats (UK) from 2009 and 2011.[7] In this role he managed the party through the 2010 General Election and the beginning of the Cameron-Clegg Coalition Government. He has been credited with overseeing a major reorganisation of the party’s campaigns staff, moving the party out of its historic Cowley Street HQ to more modern offices on Great George Street, and introducing a new online election database system.[8]
Since 2017, Fox has been a patron of children's charity, WAVE Trust.[9]
House of Lords
Chris Fox was created a life peer as Baron Fox, of Leominster in the County of Herefordshire, on 11 September 2014, following nomination by Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.[10]
Since becoming a Member of the House of Lords, Lord Fox has taken an interest in policy relating to business, industry, science and technology.[11] From June 2015 he was a member of the Lords Science and Technology Committee, in July 2019 changing to be a member of the Economic Affairs Committee.[12][13]
In June 2017, Lord Fox was appointed Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the House of Lords.
A critic of Brexit, Lord Fox was one of several Peers to oppose the UK Government's post-referendum negotiations and legislative agenda.[14] In 2020, he described the Government's Internal Market Bill as "illegal".[15] In 2023, Fox led parliamentary opposition to the Retained EU Law Bill, leading to concessions from the government.[16]
He is Vice President of the German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and an Executive member of the British-American Parliamentary Group.[17]
In May 2020 The Daily Telegraph reported that Fox had furloughed himself under the government financed COVID support scheme in his single employee company, Vulpes Advisory, which had a £100,000 cash balance, as well as claiming his £162 daily allowance for Lords Zoom video meetings attendance. The newspaper critically characterised this as a "double dip into the taxpayers' pocket", and some MPs said this was "milking the taxpayer".[18] Fox apologised for his "error in judgment" and promised to repay the furlough money.[19]
References
- ^ "Lord Fox, of Leominster in the county of Herefordshire, introduced to House of Lords". Worcester News. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ ‘FOX’, Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017
- ^ "Chris Fox". Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
- ^ "Our Imperial". Imperial College London. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "Influencers | Lord Fox". Intelligence Forums. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "Lord Fox, of Leominster in the county of Herefordshire, introduced to House of Lords". Hereford Times. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "Lib Dem chief executive Chris Fox resigns". BBC News. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ Pack, Mark (27 August 2011). "Chris Fox, Lib Dem Chief Executive: four problems, four good responses?". Mark Pack. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "Lord Chris Fox". WAVE Trust. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "No. 60989". The London Gazette. 15 September 2014. p. 17978.
- ^ Parliament (2023). "Lord Fox: Focus Areas".
- ^ "Lord Fox - Parliamentary career". House of Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ "Lord Fox". UK Parliament. June 2017. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
- ^ "Lord Fox: This Brexit deal is the worst industrial strategy possible". Politics Home. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "Government suffers major defeat in House of Lords over Brexit bill". LBC. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "UK government scraps plan to replace all EU laws by the end of 2023". Sky News. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ "Influencers | Lord Fox". Intelligence Forums. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
- ^ Mikhailova, Anna (20 May 2020). "Exclusive: peer 'milking' taxpayer by furloughing himself and claiming Lords allowance". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
- ^ Proctor, Kate (21 May 2020). "Lib Dem peer says sorry for claiming furlough and Lords allowance". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
External links
- Lord Fox – UK Parliament
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