Philippa Stroud, Baroness Stroud

Philippa Claire Stroud, Baroness Stroud (born 2 April 1965)^[1] is a Conservative Party Peer in the House of Lords and leader of several conservative think tanks.^[2]

The Right Honourable The Baroness Stroud
Baroness Stroud, 2023
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 October 2015 Life Peerage
Personal details
Born	(1965-04-02) 2 April 1965 (age 59)
Political party	Conservative
Education	St Catherine's School, Bramley
Alma mater	University of Birmingham
Occupation	Think tanker

She is co-founder and, since November 2023, the chief executive officer of Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.^[3][4] Stroud has held similar roles at the Legatum Institute, Centre for Social Justice and Social Metrics Commission.^[5][6][7] She is a member of the Conservative Party and in 2009 The Daily Telegraph named her as the 82nd most influential right-winger, ahead of former Conservative leader Michael Howard.^[8] By 2023, journalist Eleanor Mills described her as "the most powerful Right-winger you've never heard of."^[9]

Stroud was made a life peer on 1 October 2015 taking the title Baroness Stroud, of Fulham in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.^[10]

In January 2024, she will become the chairman of the Low Pay Commission. ^[11]

Early life

The daughter of a nurse and an international banker, Stroud grew up in Bramley, Surrey.^[9] She says she was shaped by seeing her mother serving Ugandan Asians, and later Vietnamese boat people, who sought asylum in Britain.^[9] Stroud received her secondary education at St Catherine's School, Bramley,^[12] going on to complete a Bachelor of Arts, studying French, at the University of Birmingham.^[9]

Professional career

Stroud spent seventeen years in poverty-fighting projects and published a book on social injustice.^{[citation needed]} In 1987-89 she worked in Hong Kong and Macau amongst the addict community.^[13] From 1989 to 1996 she pioneered a four-stage residential support project in Bedford enabling homeless people to move off the streets and to become contributing members of the community.^{[citation needed]} From 2001 to 2003 Stroud developed a project to care for addicts, the homeless and those in debt in Birmingham.^{[14][failed verification]}

Politics

At the 2010 general election, Stroud stood as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Sutton and Cheam, a marginal seat, but came second to the Liberal Democrat incumbent, Paul Burstow.^[15][16]

House of Lords

Philippa Stroud was made a life peer in October 2015.^[10] In 2018, she made speeches in the House of Lords on the topics of Human Trafficking,^[17] the European Union withdrawal bill and the Family Relationships bill.^[18] She has been an advocate of reducing poverty in the UK through her work at the Centre for Social Justice, the Legatum Institute and in the House of Lords.^[19][20]

In February 2018, she made a speech in support of the Family Relationships (Impact Assessment and Targets) Bill which would help ensure future Government policy would be assessed for its impact on family relationships. She argued that the UK has "one of the highest rates of family breakdown in Europe", and that family breakdowns entrenched poverty. Stroud believes family relationships should be a priority for Government to help reduce poverty, with the highest poverty rate being attributed to single parent families.^[21]

In March 2018, Stroud made an appeal for the UK to accept more refugee children into the UK and to reunite more children with their families. Her speech garnered support from Lord Judd, Lord Tunnicliffe and Lord Hope, who supported for her call for Britain to remain compassionate in its approach to accepting refugees.^[22]

In 2020, Stroud became a steering committee member of the lockdown-skeptic COVID Recovery Group, alongside a group of Conservative MPs who opposed the UK government's December 2020 lockdown.^[23]

Organisations

In 2003, alongside Iain Duncan Smith, Tim Montgomerie and Mark Florman, Stroud co-founded the Centre for Social Justice,^[24][25][9] which argues its 'vision is to for those living in the poorest and most disadvantaged communities across Britain to be given every opportunity to flourish and reach their full potential'. ^[26]

After the 2010 general election, Stroud was appointed as a Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith.^[27] This came as billions of pounds were stripped from the social security budget, and so she worked to help create and implement the Government's welfare reforms, including the launch of universal credit.^[28][13][29] She returned to the Centre for Social Justice in 2015.^{[citation needed]} In 2016, the Centre for Social Justice suggested that "life chance risks", including growing up in a single-parent household or by parents mired in debt, should be taken into account when assessing whether families could be classed as living in poverty. Stroud claimed that, "we need to look beyond the household income to work out the condition the children are growing up in."^[30]

Stroud became the chief executive officer of the Legatum Institute in October 2016.^[31] Under her leadership, the think tank has promoted research and ideas demonstrating the opportunities and potential solutions for the UK's trade policies post-Brexit.^[31] However, the Institute now focuses more broadly on the benefits of global trade through its Special Trade Commission.^[32]

In 2016, Stroud founded the Social Metrics Commission (SMC)^{[citation needed]} with the aim to create a new UK poverty measure to replace the previous official measure abolished by the Conservative government in 2015.^[33][34][35] In September 2018 the SMC, led by Stroud, published a report using the new measure of poverty for the UK which went beyond the former official measure (which focused solely on income) by including core living costs such as housing, childcare and disability into the equation.^[36] The report found that 14.4 million people were living in poverty in 2017, including 4.5 million children.^[37] Stroud called on the Government to use this new measure to focus efforts and attention on creating policies and solutions to alleviate poverty levels in the UK.^[38]

In December 2023, Stroud was chosen by Kemi Badenoch to become the next chairman of the Low Pay Commission, replacing Bryan Sanderson. She will take up this role from the 1st January 2024, and will serve a three-year term as chairman of the commission, which advises the Government on both the living and minimum wage. ^[11]

Elections

Stroud has twice been a Conservative candidate in a general election: she came third in Birmingham Ladywood in 2005;^[39] and on 6 May 2010, as candidate for Sutton and Cheam, she came second to incumbent Liberal Democrat Paul Burstow.^[40]

Personal life

Stroud is a mother of three children (twin daughters and a son) who are now adults, and in 2023 was a grandmother of two.^[9] She lives in south-west London with her husband David Stroud, who leads ChristChurch London.^[9][41]

References

1. "Philippa Stroud". api.parliament.uk/. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
2. "Tory peer who helped to set up universal credit calls for urgent increase in benefits". The Independent. 21 May 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
3. Bourke, Jordan Baker, Latika (29 October 2023). "Olympics of centre-right thought? Heavyweights to debate future of conservatism in the age of Trump". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 November 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4. "This global right-wing movement wants to save the world. It just needs a plan". POLITICO. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
5. "Legatum: the think-tank at intellectual heart of 'hard' Brexit". www.ft.com. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
6. Stroud, Philippa. "Dying to belong". www.prospectmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
7. Butler, Patrick (5 July 2022). "Tory peer says government has made a 'political football' out of poverty". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
8. Dale, Iain; Brian Brivati (4 October 2009). . The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
9. Mills, Eleanor (5 November 2023). "Baroness Stroud: 'Jordan Peterson and I believe we can all be part of building something better'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
10. "Crown Office - Notice 2410213". London Gazette. 5 October 2015.
11. Gutteridge, Nick (28 December 2023). "Badenoch appoints Right-wing Tory peer as low pay tsar". Telegraph.
12. "St Catherine's - Non Nobis 38 - Spring 2023". St Catherine's School. Spring 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
13. Colvile, Rober (5 July 2017). "Philippa Stroud on family breakdown, welfare reform and Brexit". Capx. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
14. . Centre for Social Justice. Archived from the original on 9 April 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
15. "Election results for Sutton and Cheam, 5 May 2010". Sutton. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
16. "Election results for Sutton and Cheam, 5 May 2005". Sutton. 5 May 2005. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
17. "Baroness Stroud explains the need for security collaboration with the EU to tackle trafficking". Legatum Institute. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 – via YouTube.
18. "Philippa Stroud, Baroness Stroud". TheyWorkForYou.
19. Unwin, Julia (12 September 2016). "Poverty is one of the UK's biggest injustices". Huffington Post.
20. Goodman, Paul (13 September 2016). "Stroud moves to Legatum from the Centre for Social Justice". Conservative Home.
21. "Family Relationships (Impact Assessment and Targets Bill) - Second Reading". TheyWorkForYou. 23 February 2018.
22. "European Union (Withdrawal) Bill - House of Lords". Hansard. UK Parliament. 14 March 2018.
23. Hope, Christopher (10 November 2020). "Tory lockdown rebels unite to form Covid Recovery Group". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group.(subscription required)
24. "Philippa Stroud". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
25. Geoghegan, Peter (30 November 2017). "Legatum under investigation by Charity Commission". The Ferret. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
26. https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/about
27. "Iain Duncan Smith adviser being paid by thinktank lobbying his department". The Guardian. 5 November 2012.
28. . TipsQ. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011.
29. Butler, Patrick (24 October 2018). "Philippa Stroud: 'The priority should be reinvesting in universal credit'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
30. Bingham, John (8 February 2016). "Growing up in a single-parent household could count as a form of 'poverty'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 January 2018. (subscription required)
31. O'Murchu, Cynthia; Mance, Henry (4 December 2017). "Legatum: the think-tank at intellectual heart of 'hard' Brexit". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 December 2017.(subscription required)
32. . City AM. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018.
33. "About". Social Metrics Commission. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
34. "Half a million pensioners 'out of poverty' overnight". The Telegraph. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.(subscription required)
35. Shipman, Tim (16 September 2018). "Middle class take more drink and drugs than poor". Sunday Times. Times Newspapers. Retrieved 16 September 2018 – via The Times.(subscription required)
36. Butler, Patrick (16 September 2018). "What is the new UK poverty measure – and why is it needed?". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
37. Butler, Patrick (16 September 2018). "New study finds 4.5 million UK children living in poverty". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
38. "New measure of poverty proposed for UK". Financial Times. 16 September 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2018.(subscription required)
39. "Philippa Stroud: Electoral history and profile". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2010.^{[dead link]}
40. "Constituency - Sutton & Cheam". Election 2010. BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
41. Butler, Patrick (24 October 2018). "Philippa Stroud: 'The priority should be reinvesting in universal credit'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2024.