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Amber Rudd

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The Right Honourable
Amber Rudd
MP
Home Secretary
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 July 2016
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byTheresa May
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
In office
11 May 2015 – 13 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byEd Davey
Succeeded byGreg Clark (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Climate Change
In office
15 July 2014 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byGreg Barker
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
10 September 2012 – 7 October 2013
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded bySajid Javid
Succeeded byRob Wilson
Member of Parliament
for Hastings and Rye
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byMichael Foster
Majority4,796 (9.4%)
Personal details
Born (1963-08-01) 1 August 1963 (age 61)
London, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseA. A. Gill (1990–1995)
ChildrenFlora
Alasdair
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
WebsiteOfficial website

Amber Rudd PC MP (born 1 August 1963) is the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom. A member of the Conservative Party, she was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the East Sussex constituency of Hastings and Rye in the May 2010 general election, defeating the incumbent Labour member Michael Foster. Rudd is the third female Home Secretary, and fifth woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State.

She has held several frontbench positions, including serving as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2015 to 2016. She was appointed Home Secretary in Theresa May's first ministry on 13 July 2016.

Early life and education

Amber Rudd was born on 1 August 1963 in London,[1] the daughter of Ethne Fitzgerald and Tony Rudd (b. 1924), a stockbroker.[2] Her brother is the public relations executive Roland Rudd,[3] chairman of Business for New Europe.[4]

She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College, an independent school in Gloucestershire,[5] and from 1979 to 1981 at Queen's College, London,[6] an independent day school for girls in London, followed by Edinburgh University where she read History.

Business career

After graduating from university, Rudd joined J.P. Morgan & Co., working in both London and New York.

She helped to find extras for the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral, for which she was credited as the "aristocracy co-ordinator", and appeared briefly in one of the church scenes in the film.[3][7]

From 1995, Lawnstone became involved with Zinc Corporation, which intended to mine for zinc in Peru. Rudd became a director, and the family firm was again a significant shareholder. Zinc Corporation never made a profit, and was taken over by Monticello in 1999. Rudd was also a co-director of Monticello between 1999 and 2000. Zinc Corporation was liquidated in 2001; Monticello in 2003.[8]

Between 1998 and 2000 she was a director of two companies based in The Bahamas, Advanced Asset Allocation Fund and Advanced Asset Allocation Management.[9][10]

Political career

At the 2005 general election, Rudd was the Conservative candidate for the Labour-held seat of Liverpool, Garston.

Her name was subsequently added to the controversial Conservative A-List and selected to contest the Hastings and Rye constituency in 2006, moving to the Old Town in 2007.[7] In the May 2010 general election, Rudd was elected as the MP for Hastings & Rye with a majority of 1,993 votes. Shortly afterwards, Rudd was elected to serve as a Conservative member on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.

Rudd is vice-chairman of the Parliamentary committee on female genital mutilation, which has campaigned against FGM and called for tougher legal penalties in the area. She has championed the cause of sex equality as chairperson of the APPG for Sex Equality,[11] which published a report on women in work. Rudd chaired a cross-party enquiry into unplanned pregnancies which called for statutory sex and relationships education in all secondary schools.[12] She has also called for a higher proportion of women in Cabinet.[13]

In September 2012, she was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne.[14] In October 2013, she became an assistant government whip. In July 2014, Rudd was appointed Minister for the Department for Energy and Climate Change.[15][16]

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

Following the 2015 general election, where she held her seat with an increased majority, she was promoted as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.[17][18] In May 2015 she was appointed as a member of the Privy Council.[19]

In November 2015 she proposed that the UK's remaining coal-fired power stations would be shut by 2025 with their use restricted by 2023. "We need to build a new energy infrastructure, fit for the 21st century."[20] In November 2015 a leaked letter showed that the government was not on course to deliver its Mandatory renewable energy target, leading to accusations from The Ecologist that Rudd had knowingly misled Parliament.[21]

In July 2015, Craig Bennett of Friends of the Earth accused Rudd of hypocrisy in claiming to want to address climate change while at the same time, in his view, "dismantling an architecture of low-carbon policies carefully put together with cross-party agreement over the course of two parliaments". Rudd replied that "[Government] support must help technologies eventually stand on their own two feet, not encourage a permanent reliance on subsidy."[22][23] Rudd participated in ITV's referendum debate regarding the European Union. She campaigned for the remain side alongside Nicola Sturgeon and Angela Eagle. They faced Gisela Stuart, Boris Johnson and Andrea Leadsom.

Home Secretary

When Theresa May became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in July 2016, Rudd was appointed Home Secretary, being the fifth woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State, after Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Beckett, Jacqui Smith and Theresa May.[24]

At the 2016 party conference Rudd suggested that companies should be forced to disclose how many foreign workers they employ, with business leaders describing it as divisive and damaging. The proposal was revealed as a key plank of a government drive to reduce net migration and encourage businesses to hire British staff. However, senior figures in the business world warned the plan would be a "complete anathema" to responsible employers and would damage the UK economy because foreign workers were hired to fill gaps in skills that British staff could not provide. One chief executive of a FTSE 100 company, whose workforce includes thousands of EU citizens, said it was "bizarre".[25]

In October 2016 she decided not to open an inquiry into the events at Orgreave during the 1984 miners' strike.[26]

Local issues

Rudd has been actively involved in the campaign for the local fishing fleet in Hastings. Her maiden speech advocated wholesale reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).[27]

Rudd has also campaigned successfully for the construction of the Hastings to Bexhill Link Road. In early 2013 the Government gave the road the go ahead for construction after ten years of campaigning,[28] and Rudd is now spearheading a campaign called Complete The Link to see the final stage of the road get funding for construction.[29]

In April 2013, a profile of Rudd appeared in the Financial Times[7] which caused upset to some in her constituency as it reported her referring to "people who are on benefits, who prefer to be on benefits by the seaside...moving down here to have easier access to friends and drugs and drink". She responded by stating that "I am incredibly optimistic about Hastings. I described the well-known problems that Hastings has to the Financial Times but I also talked about the incredible investment in the town, the fact that unemployment is going down and that there are many positive things to say about it".[30]

Personal life

Rudd married the writer A. A. Gill in 1990.[31] The couple separated in 1995, after Gill entered into a long-term relationship with journalist Nicola Formby. Gill and Rudd later divorced.[31][32]

Rudd is a trustee of the Snowdon Trust, an organisation that helps young disabled people access education.[33] Rudd has been director of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize since 2003, an annual award for a first-time female playwright in the English language. She also serves as a governor of The St Leonards Academy in Hastings.[34]

References

  1. ^ "Amber Rudd". The Argus. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Profile: Amber Rudd, a true believer in climate change". conservativehome. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Energy secretary burns with ambition for other women", Tim Shipman, The Sunday Times, 17 May 2015, p. 17.
  4. ^ Lo Dico, Joy (18 May 2015). "Changing face of Amber". London Evening Standard. p. 17.
  5. ^ Norwood, Graham (2 October 2015). "Highly fancied". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 6 December 2015. (subscription required)
  6. ^ "Former pupils – Amber Rudd". Queen's College, London. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  7. ^ a b c "The Battle for Hastings". Financial Times. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  8. ^ "Amber Rudd and Monticello: an ill-fated step in a complicated career". Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  9. ^ David Pegg and Holly Watt (21 September 2016). "Leaks reveal Amber Rudd's involvement in Bahamas offshore firms". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Leak reveals Amber Rudd's links to offshore investment funds - BBC News". BBC Online. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  11. ^ "All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sex Equality". Parliament UK. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  12. ^ Stratton, Allegra (19 December 2012). "MPs call for compulsory relationship education". BBC News. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  13. ^ Roberts, Yvonne (25 November 2012). "Has the drive towards sexual equality gone into reverse?". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  14. ^ "Amber Rudd MP in new role with Chancellor". Hastings Observer. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  15. ^ Gosden, Emily (15 July 2014). "Cabinet reshuffle: Chancellor's allies Matt Hancock and Amber Rudd join energy department". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  16. ^ "Reshuffle at-a-glance: In, out and moved about". BBC News. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  17. ^ "08 May 2015 Parliamentary Election – Results". council web site. Hastings Borough Council. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Cabinet reshuffle: Amber Rudd and Sajid Javid promoted". BBC News. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  19. ^ http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Privy-Council-business-and-order-14-may-2015.pdf
  20. ^ Rudd, Amber. "Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change". BBC News. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  21. ^ Tickell, Oliver. "Leaked letter: Rudd admits 25% green energy undershoot, misled Parliament". The Ecologist. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  22. ^ Energy Secretary Amber Rudd criticised ahead of climate speech. Roger Harrabin, BBC News, 24 July 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  23. ^ COP21: UK under fire on climate policy. Roger Harrabin, BBC News, 6 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  24. ^ "Amber Rudd appointed new Home Secretary".
  25. ^ Rowena Mason (5 October 2016). "Amber Rudd faces backlash from businesses over foreign workers". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  26. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/31/battle-of-orgreave-home-secretary-to-announce-decision-on-public/
  27. ^ "Fairer deal for fishermen in maiden speech". Amanda Rudd. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  28. ^ "Final funding approval for Bexhill-Hastings link road". Planningresource.co.uk. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  29. ^ "Complete the Link". Amber Rudd. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  30. ^ "Sussex MP blasted for drugs comment". The Argus. 1 May 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  31. ^ a b Barber, Lynn (6 January 2004). "The secret diary of Adrian Gill, aged 45". The Guardian. London.
  32. ^ Gill, A.A. (21 August 2005). "Tugga". The Times. London. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  33. ^ "The Snowdon Trust". Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  34. ^ "St Leonards Academy". Retrieved 11 May 2015.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Hastings and Rye
2010–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
2015–2016 		Succeeded byas Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Preceded by Home Secretary
2016–present 		Incumbent
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