David Anthony Freud, Baron Freud, (born 24 June 1950) is a British politician,
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
, and former investment banker who served as
Minister for Welfare Reform from 2010 to 2016. Before he joined the
Conservative Party, he was vice-chairman of investment banking at
UBS and a government adviser on welfare reform.
Early life and career
Freud is the son of
Walter Freud and a
great-grandson of the physician and pioneering psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
. He was educated at
Whitgift School
("He who perseveres, conquers")
, established =
, closed =
, type = Independent school
, religious_affiliation = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head Master
, head = Christopher Ramsey
, c ...
,
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...
, and
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...
, where he took a degree in
Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
After starting out at the ''Western Mail'', Freud worked at the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...
'' for eight years as a journalist.
[ In 1983, Freud was hired by the stockbroking firm then known as Rowe & Pitman. Later, he worked for ]S G Warburg
S. G. Warburg & Co. was a London-based investment bank. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was acquired by the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1995 and ultimately became a part of UBS ...
, which was taken over by UBS. He was vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS before he retired.[''Confessions of an apologetic investment banker''](_blank)
The Guardian, 4 August 2006 In 2006, Freud published his autobiographical book ''Freud in the City'' which describes his life and work as a merchant banker in the City of London.
Political career
In 2006, Freud was asked by Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the ...
to review the UK's welfare-to-work system, with Blair having been impressed by Freud's raising of finance for Eurotunnel and EuroDisney while at UBS. However, many of Freud's ideas were not implemented because of objections made by Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
. Freud's 2007 report titled ''Reducing dependency, increasing opportunity: options for the future of welfare to work'' called for the greater use of private sector companies who would be paid by results, for substantial resources to be made available to help lone parents and people on Incapacity Benefit back into work, and for a single working-age benefit payment to replace Housing Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance, etc. His central thesis was that spending on 'delivery' – such as schemes to get people back to work – would save money in the long run because there would be fewer people being paid money in the form of benefits. Freud wrote:
In 2008, during the banking crisis
A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may cease to function in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks no ...
that had begun the previous year, Freud became an adviser to Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell and was asked to "help implement nothing less than a revolution in the welfare state" after a "sea change in Labour's thinking about the benefits system". Some of his ideas were incorporated into a white paper published later that year. However, he came to the belief the Conservative Party was "more likely to implement his radical reforms" and announced he would switch to working with the Conservatives. Purnell later resigned after Gordon Brown refused to cut welfare spending. On 27 June 2009, Freud was made 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. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
after his name was put forward by the Conservative leadership. He then became a shadow minister in David Cameron's frontbench team.
When the Cameron–Clegg coalition
The Cameron–Clegg coalition was formed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg when Cameron was invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010, after the ge ...
was formed in 2010, Freud was made Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Welfare Reform at the Department for Work and Pensions. In 2012, he outlined some of his thoughts on welfare reform in an interview by saying: "People who are poorer should be prepared to take the biggest risks, they've got least to lose. We have, through our welfare system, created a system which has made them reluctant to take risks, so we need to turn that on its head and make the system predictable so that people will take those risks". In the same interview, he said his primary concerns were the "nooks and crannies" in the benefits system where people could sit for long periods without ongoing scrutiny. He claimed the people who did this were: "The incapacity benefits, the lone parents, the people who are self-employed for year after year but only earn hundreds of pounds or a few thousand pounds, the people waiting for their work capability assessment
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is used by the British Government's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to decide whether and to what extent welfare benefit claimants are capable of doing work or work-related activities. The outcome of t ...
then not going to it - all kinds of areas where people are able to have a lifestyle off benefits and actually off conditionality".
In 2012, he argued that many people were on benefits as a "lifestyle choice" rather than using it as a safety net. In 2013, he stated in a House of Lords speech, to much criticism, that the number of food bank
A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food dire ...
s were increasing because people want free food rather than growing poverty.[
In 2014, Labour MPs called for Freud's resignation after he was secretly recorded responding to a question posed at a fringe meeting of the Conservative Party conference. The question was whether some people with disabilities should work for a token sum in order to enjoy the non-financial advantages of engaging in the world of work, perhaps with their wages topped up by benefit payments. Freud agreed that there was a small group of disabled people who were "not worth the full wage" and said he would go away and think about it. Freud had to apologise. He said: "I was foolish to accept the premise of the question...I care passionately about disabled people...that is why through Universal Credit...we have increased overall spending on disabled households by £250 million, offered the most generous work allowance ever, and increased the disability addition to £360 per month".
After the Conservatives won the general election in May 2015, Freud was promoted to Minister of State at the DWP, where he was given an enhanced role in overseeing the expansion of the ]Universal Credit
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeke ...
scheme. He stepped down from his government role at the end of December 2016.
In February 2021, the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards ruled that Freud had breached the code of conduct for peers by writing to judges to argue against the release of character references given in ex-Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke's trial for sexually assaulting two women, finding Lord Freud breached the House of Lords' code of conduct "by failing to act on his personal honour". Freud made a formal apology in the House of Lords.
Freud was regarded as the architect of the Universal Credit
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeke ...
, which was legislated for in 2012. In 2021, he launched his book titled ''Clashing Agendas'' about the battles with the Treasury over the introduction of Universal Credit.[
]
Personal life
Along with the late Martin Gilbert
Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish ...
, Freud has acted as a long-term trustee of the Portland Trust The Portland Trust is a British non-profit ‘action tank’ whose mission is to promote peace and stability between Israelis and Palestinians through economic development.
They work with a range of partners to help develop the Palestinian private s ...
, a not-for-profit London-based foundation set up to promote co-operation between Israel and Palestine through economic development. Between 2005 and 2008, he was its chief executive.
Freud is a president of Volunteering Matters
Volunteering Matters is a UK charity focused on "''the advancement of citizenship and community development for the public benefit through the promotion of volunteering''". It was founded in 1962 as Community Service Volunteers (CSV) by Mora and ...
, UK's volunteering charity founded in 1962.
Freud is President of the Freud Museum London.
Freud has appeared in the TV programme Time Team
''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television pro ...
(series 13, episode 6) about the village of Eastry.[''Time Team s13 ep6''](_blank)
/ref>
Notes
References
External links
Rt Hon Lord Freud
– gov.uk
Lord Freud
– TheyWorkForYou
TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assemb ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freud, David
1950 births
Living people
People educated at Whitgift School
Alumni of Merton College, Oxford
British chief executives
British Jews
British people of Austrian-Jewish descent
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
Jewish British politicians
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Life peers created by Elizabeth II