Christopher Francis Fox, Baron Fox (born 27 September 1957), is a British

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

politician.

Education and early career

Fox grew up in Herefordshire, attending Leominster Grammar School. He went on to study at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. During his time at university Fox spent a year as President of the Imperial College Students' Union. Fox's professional career began with engineering roles in the petroleum and nuclear industries. From 1998 to 2005 he worked at

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle Public Limited Company is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage products to food and industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s, it began to diversify, eventually dive ...

, before joining

Smiths Group Smiths Group plc is a British, Multinational corporation, multinational, diversified engineering business headquartered in London, England. It operates in over 50 countries and employs 15,000 staff. Smiths Group is listed on the London Stock Ex ...

and, later, GKN, as Group Director of Communications. Fox served as Chief Executive of the

Liberal Democrats (UK) The Liberal Democrats, colloquially known as the Lib Dems, are a Liberalism, liberal political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1988. They are based at Liberal Democrat Headquarters (UK), Liberal Democrat Headquarters, in Westminster, ...

from 2009 and 2011. 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 Great George Street is a street in Westminster, London, leading from Parliament Square to Birdcage Walk. The area of the current street was occupied by a number of small roads and yards housing inns and tenements. In the 1750s these were demol ...

, and introducing a new online election database system. Since 2017, Fox has been a patron of children's charity, WAVE Trust.

House of Lords

Chris Fox was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Fox, of

Leominster Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England; it is located at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of almos ...

in the County of

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, on 11 September 2014, following nomination by Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister,

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. H ...

. Since becoming a Member of the House of Lords, Lord Fox has taken an interest in policy relating to business, industry, science and technology. From June 2015 he was a member of the Lords

Science and Technology Committee The Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The original Science and Technology Committee was abolished upon the creation of the Innovation, Univ ...

, in July 2019 changing to be a member of the Economic Affairs Committee. In June 2017, Lord Fox was appointed Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. A critic of

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

, Lord Fox was one of several Peers to oppose the UK Government's post-

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

negotiations and legislative agenda. In 2020, he described the Government's

Internal Market Bill The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (c. 27) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in December 2020. Its purpose is to prevent internal trade barriers within the UK, and to restrict the legislative powers of the d ...

as "illegal". In 2023, Fox led parliamentary opposition to the Retained EU Law Bill, leading to concessions from the government. He is Vice President of the German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and an Executive member of the

British-American Parliamentary Group The British-American Parliamentary Group is a group consisting of members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. "The objects of the British-American Parliamentary Group are to promote friendly relations and mutual understanding between Members ...

. In May 2020 ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' 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". Fox apologised for his "error in judgment" and promised to repay the furlough money.

References

External links

Lord Fox
– UK Parliament {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Christopher 1957 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers People from Haslemere Life peers created by Elizabeth II