The Lord Fox | |
|---|---|
 Fox in 2017 | |
| Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats | |
| In office 2009–2011 | |
| Preceded by | Chris Rennard |
| Succeeded by | Tim Gordon |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 11 September 2014 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 September 1957 Surrey,England |
| Party | Liberal Democrats |
| Spouse | Essie Fox [1] |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Imperial College London |
Christopher Francis Fox,Baron Fox (born 27 September 1957),is a British Liberal Democrat politician.
Fox grew up in Herefordshire,attending Leominster Grammar School. [2] He went on to study at Imperial College London,graduating with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in chemistry. [3] During his time at university Fox spent a year as President of the Imperial College Students' Union. [4] [5]
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. [6] [7]
Fox served as Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats (UK) from 2009 and 2011. [8] 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. [9]
Since 2017,Fox has been a patron of children's charity,WAVE Trust. [10]
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. [11]
Since becoming a Member of the House of Lords,Lord Fox has taken an interest in policy relating to business,industry,science and technology. [12] 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. [13] [14]
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. [15] In 2020,he described the Government's Internal Market Bill as "illegal". [16] In 2023,Fox led parliamentary opposition to the Retained EU Law Bill,leading to concessions from the government. [17]
He is Vice President of the German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce,and an Executive member of the British-American Parliamentary Group. [18]
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". [19] Fox apologised for his "error in judgment" and promised to repay the furlough money. [20]
