Philip Hammond

Philip Hammond (born December 4, 1955, Epping, Essex, England) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as foreign minister (2014–16) under Prime Minister David Cameron and chancellor of the Exchequer (2016–19) under Prime Minister Theresa May.

After graduating (1977) from University College, Oxford, with a first-class degree in philosophy, politics, and economics, Hammond pursued a varied business career. Over a 20-year period his professional interests ranged from property to energy and health care. He also gained overseas experience, undertaking assignments for the World Bank in Latin America and, for two years in the mid-1990s, serving as a consultant to Malawi’s government.

Hammond was elected to Parliament in 1997 as MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, a safe Conservative constituency to the southwest of London. Within a year he was appointed a shadow minister in opposition to the Labour government led by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Hammond held a number of shadow posts under successive Conservative leaders until his party was elected to government in 2010, whereupon Prime Minister Cameron appointed him transport secretary. (Though Hammond had expected to become chief secretary to the Treasury, a position that would have put him in overall charge of all public spending, under the Conservatives’ coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats that post was among those allocated to the smaller party.)

As transport secretary, Hammond proved to be hardworking, undemonstrative, and able to absorb detailed information, especially financial data. When Liam Fox resigned suddenly as defense secretary in October 2011, Cameron asked Hammond to accept the post. The United Kingdom’s defense budget was being cut as part of the government-wide strategy to reduce public spending, and Cameron acknowledged that he needed someone whose mastery of a spreadsheet was as great as his ability to grasp the complexities of military strategy. Hammond oversaw much of the U.K. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also established himself as a leading figure on the right of the party, advocating significant cuts to welfare spending, opposing same-sex marriage, and declaring that he would rather see the United Kingdom leave the EU if reforms were not initiated.

When Foreign Secretary William Jefferson Hague resigned in July 2014, Hammond was unexpectedly appointed his successor. Given that he was a Euroskeptic, the move appeared to indicate a more hawkish approach to the coming negotiations with other EU members. However, it quickly became clear that the detail-oriented Hammond would treat the issue as a practical challenge rather than an ideological crusade. When Theresa May became Conservative Party leader and prime minister in July 2016 following Cameron’s resignation in the wake of his failure to persuade Britons to vote against leaving the EU (Brexit) in a June referendum, she named Hammond chancellor of the Exchequer. Although he supported Brexit, he warned of serious economic damage if an exit agreement was not reached. After repeatedly failing to pass such a deal, May announced in 2019 that she would resign, and Boris Johnson, who favoured a no-deal Brexit, soon emerged as a front-runner to win the leadership race. Hammond stepped down in late July 2019, shortly before Johnson became prime minister.

Hammond continued to serve in the House of Commons until November 2019. The following year he was elevated to the House of Lords when he was made a life peer.