Early life
He went to the Minchenden School [2] (became comprehensive in 1967,and was merged into the Broomfield School in 1984) in Southgate,London. At the University of Sussex,he gained a BA in economics in 1974. [2]
From 1974 to 1975,he was a research assistant in Economics at Birkbeck College. [3] From 1975 to 1979,he was a research officer at the Low Pay Unit,and subsequently became its director,taking over from Frank Field. [2] He lectured in economics at the Civil Service College (now called the National School of Government) from 1979 to 1980. [2] From 1981 to 1982,he was a visiting lecturer in economics at the University of Kent. [3] At the University of Surrey,he was a visiting professor from 1984-6a role he subsequently took on at Middlesex University. He was a consultant for the Open University from 1987 to 1988,and 1991–2. [3]
Parliamentary career
At the 1987 general election,Pond unsuccessfully contested the Welwyn Hatfield constituency. [4]
He won the Gravesham seat at the 1997 general election,beating the sitting Conservative Party MP,Jacques Arnold. He was re-elected at the 2001 general election,and served as a member of the Social Security Select Committee,Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Treasury and then minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Pond introduced a Private Members Bill,the Employment of Children Bill in 1998,which subsequently led to greater protection for children at work. He successfully campaigned with the Marchioness Action Group for a Public Inquiry into the sinking of the Marchioness,for greater safety measures and for the introduction of lifeboats on the Thames. At the May 2005 general election,he lost his seat in Parliament to the Conservative Party candidate,Adam Holloway, [5] who secured a majority of 654.
In February 2005,Pond was arrested by the police after an alleged incident of criminal damage. He had removed a sign illegally threatening to clamp his heavily pregnant wife's car and placed it on the door of a neighbour who he believed had been responsible,leaving traces of glue. After the decision whether to prosecute him was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the Attorney General,Lord Goldsmith,Pond received a police caution. [6] [7]
After being defeated in the 2005 election,Pond was appointed as Chief Executive of The National Council for One Parent Families,which subsequently merged to become Gingerbread. [2] In 2007 he became Director of Financial Capability at the Financial Services Authority. [8] [9] where he led the establishment of the Money Advice Service,becoming its interim CEO before leaving the FSA in 2012. Between 2005 and 2009,he was Chair of Capacitybuilders,a Home Office and then Cabinet Office sponsored funding agency for charities and social enterprises. [10] Between 2009 and 2013,he was an independent member of the HMRC Ethics and Responsibility Committee. He was also a Trustee of the End Child Poverty Campaign and of the National Family and Parenting Institute,which subsequently became the Family and Childcare Trust. On leaving the FSA,he was appointed as a Partner and Head of UK Public Affairs for Kreab,an international communications agency,which he left in December 2016.
He is now Chairman of the Lending Standards Board (a body established to promote good practice in lending to consumers and small businesses) and of the Equity Release Council Standards Board. He also serves as vice-chair of the independent Financial Inclusion Commission,which he helped establish in 2014. He also serves as Chair of The Money Charity and of the Caxton Foundation (a Department of Health-funded charity to provide support for those infected with Hepatitis-C following NHS treatment) and is an independent director of Cape Claims Services,an asbestos compensation scheme which has paid out over £30 million in compensation in its 10 years of existence. He is trustee of GambleAware and Z2K,a charity established to combat poverty and inequality in London. He is also a member of the Treasury Fintech Delivery Panel.
Tristram Julian William Hunt, is a British historian, broadcast journalist and former politician who has been Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum since 2017. He served as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 2010 to 2017, and Shadow Secretary of State for Education from 2013 to 2015.
Timothy Eric Boswell, Baron Boswell of Aynho is a British politician who was the Conservative MP for Daventry from 1987 until he stood down at the 2010 general election, after which he was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer.
Shaun Anthony Woodward is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2010.
Jonathan Peter Evans FRSA is a Welsh lawyer, businessman and former politician. He has been Chairman of the British Insurance Brokers Association since 1 January 2020.
James Philip Knight, Baron Knight of Weymouth, is a British politician who served as Minister for the South West and Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party and Co-operative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dorset from 2001 to 2010.
Mark Gerard Hoban is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he is a former Member of Parliament for Fareham (2001–2015) and former Minister of State for Work and Pensions (2012–2013).
Sir Peter Hannay Bailey Tapsell was a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth and Horncastle. He served in the House of Commons continuously from 1966 until 2015, and was also previously an MP from 1959 to 1964. He was Father of the House between 2010 and 2015. With a total parliamentary service of 54 years, he is one of the longest-serving MPs in British history.
Siôn Llewelyn Simon is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Erdington from 2001 to 2010 and as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands from 2014 to 2019.
Jacques Arnold DL is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham in Kent from 1987, when he succeeded Tim Brinton, until he lost his seat in the landslide 1997 election. He is now a consultant and lecturer on Latin American Affairs as well as the author of a two-book series on political and genealogical subjects. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent in January 2013.
Christopher Murray Paul Huhne is a British energy and climate change consultant, and former journalist, business economist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2010 to 2012. He is currently chair of the UK green gas association – the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association – and senior adviser to the World Biogas Association. He also advises companies on his particular interest in renewable technologies that can provide back up for intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.
Iain David Wright is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 2004 to 2017, and served also as the Chairman of Business Innovation and Skills Committee. He was previously Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for apprenticeships, and 14 to 19 reform in the Department for Children, Schools and Families until 11 May 2010.
Jonathan Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell is a British businessman and academic who was Chairman of the Financial Services Authority during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession, serving from September 2008 until its abolition in March 2013. He is a former chairman of the Pensions Commission and the Committee on Climate Change, as well as a former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry. He has described himself in a BBC HARDtalk interview with Stephen Sackur as a 'technocrat'.
Katharine Anne Ussher is a British economist, public policy research professional and former politician. In November 2023 she moved from being chief economist at the Institute of Directors to Managing Director, Group Head of Policy Development at Barclays. She was previously a Labour Party MP and Treasury minister, and later Chief Executive of the Demos think tank. She was a Non Executive Director with the UK subsidiary of the fintech Revolut from 2020-23, and is a current NED at the local authority pension pooling company, London CIV. In 2023 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Mary Helen Creagh is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry East since 2024, having previously served as MP for Wakefield from 2005 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nature since July 2024.
Adam James Harold Holloway is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham from 2005 to 2024. A Government Whip from September to October 2022, and previously an Assistant Government Whip from July to September 2022, he served on the Home Affairs Select Committee and European Scrutiny Committee. He was a vocal supporter of pro-Brexit lobby group Leave Means Leave.
Mark John Reckless is a British lawyer and former politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021, having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to 2015. Initially a member of the Conservative Party, he crossed the floor to join the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in September 2014. He has since changed parties a further three times.
David Henry Rutley is a British former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Macclesfield from 2010 until 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas and Caribbean from October 2022 until July 2024.
Christopher Mark Francis White is a British Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warwick and Leamington from 2010 to 2017. He lost the seat at the 2017 general election. White is currently Director of the Institute for Industrial Strategy at King's College London.
Christopher Charles Pond is a British historian, librarian, and local government politician.
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, commonly known as Tan Dhesi, is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Slough since 2017.
