Philip Hammond

The Right Honourable Philip Hammond MP
Secretary of State for Transport
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 May 2010
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Lord Adonis
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 2 July 2007 – 11 May 2010
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Theresa Villiers
In office 6 May 2005 – 6 December 2005
Leader	Michael Howard
Preceded by	George Osborne
Succeeded by	Theresa Villiers
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office 6 December 2005 – 2 July 2007
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Malcolm Rifkind
Succeeded by	Chris Grayling
Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	new constituency
Majority	12,349 (28.4%)
Personal details
Born	(1955-12-04) 4 December 1955 Epping, Essex
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	University College, Oxford

For the medical commentator and comedian, see Phil Hammond (comedian).

Philip Hammond (born 4 December 1955) is a British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge. He was appointed Secretary of State for Transport on May 12th 2010.

Early life

Philip Hammond was born in Epping, Essex, the son of a civil engineer, and educated at Shenfield School (now Shenfield High School) on Alexander Lane in Brentwood, Essex, and University College, Oxford, where he was awarded a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

He joined the medical equipment manufacturers Speywood Laboratories Ltd in 1977 becoming, in 1981, a director of Speywood Medical Ltd. where, in 1982, an automatic electrocardiograph electrode manufacturing plant figured amongst his notable achievements of the time. He left in 1983. From 1984, he was a director in Castlemead Ltd, and from 1993-5 he was a partner in CMA Consultants, and from 1994, a director in Castlemead Homes. He has had many business interests including house building and property, manufacturing, healthcare and oil and gas. He has undertaken various consulting assignments in Latin America for the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and was a consultant to the government of Malawi from 1995 until his election to parliament.

Member of Parliament

He was the chairman of the Lewisham East Conservative Association for seven years from 1989 and contested the 1994 Newham North East by-election caused by the death of the sitting Labour Ron Leighton, losing to Labour's Stephen Timms by 11,818 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for the new Surrey seat of Runnymede and Weybridge. He won the seat with a majority of 9,875 and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on 17 June 1997, reminding that it was in his constituency at Runnymede in 1215 when King John sealed the Magna Carta, that the basis of constitutional government in England began to emerge.

Philip Hammond received criticism in 2009 when it emerged that he claimed just £8 short of the maximum allowance for a second home in London from 2007 to 2008 - even though he lived in the commuter belt town of Woking. The Sun columnist Kelvin Mackenzie stated that as Mr Hammond had previously refused to support his opposition to a rise in car parking charges at Weybridge railway station, the revelation about the second home showed that Hammond is "not interested in the downtrodden local motorist". As a result of the criticism Mr Hammond told his local paper that he would pay back any profit he makes on the future sale of his second home to the public purse. When his expenses were revealed on the internet it emerged that Hammond spends thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money every year on newspapers, and once spent £24 of public money on eight teaspoons.

Shadow Cabinet

In parliament he served on the environment, transport and the regions select committee from 1997 until he was promoted to the frontbench by William Hague in 1998 as a spokesman on health. He was moved to become a spokesman on trade and industry by Iain Duncan Smith in 2001, moving to speak on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's responsibilities by Michael Howard in 2003. Howard promoted Hammond to the shadow cabinet following the 2005 general election as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following the election of David Cameron later in 2005, he became the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He was moved back to the role of Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in David Cameron's reshuffle that followed Gordon Brown's accession to the premiership.

Personal life

He married Susan Carolyn Williams-Walker on 29 June 1991 in Chichester and they have a son (born May 1999) and two daughters (born September 1994 and October 1996).

Hammond's wealth is estimated at £9m. appointed minister of transport 12/05/2010

Styles

• Mr Philip Hammond (1955–1997)
• Mr Philip Hammond MP (1997–2010)
• The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP (2010–)

External links

• Profile at the Conservative Party
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile: Philip Hammond BBC News