Angela Ann Knight CBE (born Angela Ann Cook, 31 October 1950) was the chair of the

Office of Tax Simplification The Office of Tax Simplification was an independent office of HM Treasury, part of the Government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 20 July 2010 to identify areas where complexities in the tax system for both businesses and individua ...

. She was replaced on 18 March 2019. Previously she was the Chief Executive of Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry. Earlier, she was the Chief Executive of the

British Bankers' Association The British Bankers' Association (BBA) was a trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector. From 1 July 2017, it was merged into UK Finance. It represented members from a wide range of banking and financial services. The ass ...

and, before that, a Conservative Party

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

representing the constituency of Erewash from 1992 to 1997. She also served as

Economic Secretary to the Treasury The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is the sixth-most senior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, after the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster-General and t ...

from 1995 to 1997.

Early life

Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, Knight went to the Penrhos College boarding school in

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpor ...

, and Sheffield High School. She then went to the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

, gaining a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Chemistry, and became an engineer working for

Air Products Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an American international corporation whose principal business is selling gases and chemicals for industrial uses. Air Products' headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pe ...

, where she became a Product Development Manager for nitrogen. She went on to set up and serve as Chief Executive of Cook & Knight Metallurgical Processors Ltd, a specialist contract heat treatment company treating precision engineering components.

Political career

She served as a Conservative councillor on

Sheffield City Council Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Con ...

from 1987 to 1992. In April 1992 she was elected Member of Parliament for Erewash. She was

from 1995 to 1997. She lost her seat in Parliament to Liz Blackman of the Labour Party in 1997.

Later career

Knight became Chief Executive of APCIMS (the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers) in September 1997. She stayed in this role until 2006. Knight was appointed as a

Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for services to the financial services industry in the 2007 New Year's honours list. In April 2007 she became the Chief Executive of the

. Bloomberg reports that, in a December 2008 statement, she declared that Libor could be trusted as "a reliable benchmark". After a verdict against the BBA at the High Court in April 2011, some BBA members criticized Knight's handling of the case and called for her to step down as Chief Executive. On 1 April 2012 Knight resigned as chief executive of the BBA but said she would remain until a replacement was found. She stepped down in September of that year. In May 2012 it was announced that Knight had been appointed chief executive of trade body Energy UK, effective the end of July. She stepped down from this position in 2014 to focus on her non-executive portfolio career. As of 2021, Knight's portfolio of directorships includes Tullett Prebon,

Provident Financial Provident Financial plc is specialist bank for UK adults who are not served by mainstream lenders. Based in Bradford, England, it specialises in credit cards, online loans and consumer vehicle finance. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

Taylor Wimpey Taylor Wimpey plc (formerly Taylor Woodrow plc) is one of the largest home construction companies in the United Kingdom. The company was created from the merger of rivals Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey on 3 July 2007. It is listed on the Lo ...

Arbuthnot Latham & Co Arbuthnot Latham & Co is a private and merchant bank based near Moorgate in the City of London. It has the status of one of the 12 accepting houses. History Arbuthnot Latham was founded on 13 May 1833 by Alfred Latham and John A. Arbuthnot at 33 ...

and Froggatt Trustee Ltd in the UK, Encore Capital Group in the US, and Astana Financial Services Authority in Kazakhstan. She is also an advisor to Goodacre UK and Oxera Consulting. She has previously served as a non-executive director of Brewin Dolphin,

, Transport for London, Financial Skills Partnership,

Scottish Widows Scottish Widows is a life insurance and pensions company located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. Its product range includes life assurance and pensions. The company has been providing financial services to ...

Logica Logica plc was a multinational IT and management consultancy company headquartered in London and later Reading, United Kingdom. Founded in 1969, the company had offices in London and in a number of major cities across England, Wales and Scot ...

, the

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and it ...

Lloyds TSB Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an extensi ...

and South East Water.

References

External links

Energy UK

British Bankers' Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Angela 1950 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Councillors in Sheffield Alumni of the University of Bristol UK MPs 1992–1997 People educated at Rydal Penrhos Politicians from Sheffield Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Derbyshire People educated at Sheffield High School, South Yorkshire 20th-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Women councillors in England