Philippa Roe, Baroness Couttie

Philippa Marion Roe, Baroness Couttie (25 September 1962 – 12 December 2022) was a British Conservative politician, who served as Leader of Westminster City Council from 2012 to 2017. Before entering public life she was an investment banker with Citigroup.

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Couttie
Official portrait, 2018
Leader of Westminster City Council
In office
4 March 2012 – 26 January 2017
Preceded byColin Barrow
Succeeded byNickie Aiken
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
5 September 2016 – 12 December 2022
Life peerage
Councillor (Knightsbridge and Belgravia Ward)
In office
2006–2014
Personal details
Born
Philippa Marion Roe

(1962-09-25)25 September 1962
Hampstead, London, England
Died12 December 2022(2022-12-12) (aged 60)
Political partyConservative
Spouses
  • John Ricketts
    ​
    (before 2002)​
  • Stephen Couttie
    ​
    (m. 2002)​
Children2
Parent
Alma materUniversity of St Andrews (MA)
Occupation

Early life and education

Born in Hampstead and educated at the University of St Andrews, Roe was a director of Citigroup before entering politics in 2006.[1] The daughter of James Roe and former Conservative MP Dame Marion Roe, Philippa had a younger sister and younger brother.[2][3] In 1982, she became the first student in 572 years to be elected to the University of St Andrews Senate, the institution's governing body.

Career

After leaving university, Roe began her career in the public relations industry, joining Burson Marsteller.

In the 1990s, she served on a panel of experts from the private sector consulted by the Conservative government in establishing the private finance initiative,[4] and in 2004 Roe was the joint author of a report called "Reforming the Private Finance Initiative", published by the Centre for Policy Studies.[5]

Roe gave up her job at Citigroup when she became the mother of twins. In 2006, soon after this, Roe was elected to Westminster City Council, representing the three-member Knightsbridge and Belgravia ward, a safe seat for her party.[6][7] At that time, she had recently recovered from cancer.[7][3]

She was appointed a governor of Imperial College London[1] and in 2008 became the member of Westminster's cabinet for Housing. In May 2010, Roe was re-elected as a councillor, and in June that year, she stated her support for the new coalition government's decision to cap housing benefit at £400 a week.[6][8] In 2011, she took on the cabinet portfolio of Strategic Finance. The next year she succeeded Colin Barrow as Leader of the council, beating Edward Argar for the nomination,[9] and quickly distanced herself from a comparison with a predecessor, Dame Shirley Porter.[10]

The same year, she took over the role of chairman of the statutory Health and Wellbeing Board for Westminster.[11] She also sat on the London Enterprise Panel.[12] In 2013, she was quoted as saying that "local people know best"[13] and that "The funding challenge is an opportunity to break free of orthodoxy and review all the services provided and how they can be delivered more efficiently."[14]

She was re-elected as a councillor in 2014 and topped the poll, with the Conservative ward candidates taking 79.6 per cent of the vote. She did not stand as a councillor at the 2018 election.[6]

In July 2015, Roe announced that she was seeking her party's nomination to stand as Mayor of London at the May 2016 election.[15][16] However, she was not shortlisted by the Conservatives.[17][18]

Roe was nominated for a life peerage in David Cameron's Resignation Honours and was created Baroness Couttie, of Downe in the County of Kent, on 5 September 2016.[19][20] Couttie was the surname of her husband Stephen.[7]

Personal life and death

Roe married Stephen Couttie, a partner in the private equity firm Collabrium Capital, in September 2002. After fertility treatment in the United States, she gave birth to twins, Angus and Genevieve, in August 2005.[7]

Baroness Couttie died of cancer on 12 December 2022, at the age of 60. Several of her former council colleagues paid tribute to her.[21][22][3]

References
  1. Lydall, Ross (9 March 2012). "I can run London's top council but still get home in time to put the". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  2. Country Life dated 12 February 1987, p. 53: "Miss Philippa Roe, elder daughter of Mr James Roe and Mrs Roe, MP, of Petleys, Downe, Kent, and Temple House, Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire..."
  3. "Baroness Couttie, leader of Westminster council and former banker who changed tack after serious illness – obituary". The Telegraph. 16 December 2022. (subscription required)
  4. "Philippa Roe". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  5. E. R. Yescombe, Public-Private Partnerships: Principles of Policy and Finance (2011, ISBN 0080489575), p. 332 (bibliography); "Reforming the Private Finance Initiative" is quoted by Simon Jenkins in his Thatcher and Sons: A Revolution in Three Acts (2007), at p. 137
  6. Teale, Andrew. "Knightsbridge and Belgravia Ward". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  7. Riley-Smith, Ben. "My journey from cancer hell to the joy of twins, by Tory hoping to become the new Boris". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 December 2022. (subscription required)
  8. Roe, Philippa (24 June 2010). "Housing benefit cap was needed". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  9. Ben Bloom, Philippa Roe to become new Westminster Council leader dated 1 March 2012 at hamhigh.co.uk. Retrieved 21 July 2015
  10. Hetherington, Peter (13 March 2012). "Westminster's new leader hits back at 'social cleansing' accusations". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  11. House of Commons, The Role of Local Government in Health Issues (Report of Communities and Local Government Committee, 2013), p. Ev 37
  12. Cabinetat westminster.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 July 2015 Archived 10 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  13. "Leader of Westminster sets out her vision for the future". The Guardian. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  14. John Brown, Pat Gaudin, Wendy Moran, PR and Communication in Local Government and Public Services (2013, ISBN 0749466170), p. 256
  15. Foot, Tom. Westminster Council leader Philippa Roe puts forward bid to be next Tory Mayor in West End Extra dated 10 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015
  16. Crerar, Pippa (24 July 2015). "Tory mayoral hopeful: I would give more power to London's town halls". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  17. "London mayoral race: Tories shortlist four candidates". BBC News. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  18. Marshall, Tom (25 July 2015). "Sol Campbell fails to make Tory shortlist for London Mayor candidate". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  19. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/543973/resignation_peerages_2016.pdf
  20. "No. 61700". The London Gazette. 9 September 2016. p. 19232.
  21. "Statement on the death of former City of Westminster leader Philippa Roe". Westminster City Council. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  22. "Baroness Couttie obituary". The Times. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
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