Philip Hammond is a former Conservative politician who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Government for Prime Minister Teresa May. Hammond was a member of the British Government and a UK Cabinet Minister for almost ten years, and led four departments over nine years holding two of the four Great Offices of State. He was a Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge from 1997 to 2019, and is one of only three politicians to serve in the UK cabinet continuously from 2010 to 2019, also serving Prime Minister David Cameron before Teresa May. Hammond took the role of Chancellor during the uncertain times after the 2016 Brexit Referendum, and became a leading opponent of no-deal Brexit, and saw his role as a way to prevent Brexit inflicting serious economic damage on the United Kingdom.

Born in Epping, Essex, Hammond studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at University College, Oxford and worked as a company director before acting as an adviser to the government of Malawi. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge in 1997, and went on to serve in the Shadow Cabinets of both Michael Howard and David Cameron. In 2010, the Conservatives formed a coalition government and Hammond was appointed Secretary of State for Transport. Promotion to Secretary of State of Defence followed the next year, and with his political career on the rise, Hammond was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer after Theresa May succeeded Cameron as Prime Minister in July 2016.

Hammond left the cabinet before the appointment of Boris Johnson as prime minister and announced he wouldn’t stand for re-election in the 2019 December general election. Hammond is now the non-executive director of Irish packaging firm Ardagh, but still regularly shares his views on the political world.