FS policy: 20 people to meet at Tory conference

The party is licking its wounds from a gargantuan defeat at the U.K.’s general election in July, and it still doesn’t have a leader. So this year’s Conservative Party conference will be a bit different, with most eyes on the leadership debate rather than the policies the party will prioritize in opposition.

Nonetheless, in financial services there are plenty of MPs, peers and independent onlookers who’ll be attending the conference and are worth a chat. The party might not be influencing policy immediately, but it is the official opposition and isn’t going anywhere.

The MPs

Andrew Griffith 

Griffith was city minister from 2022 to 2023 — the predecessor of Bim Afolami — and did a stint as the head of the prime minister’s policy unit under Boris Johnson. During his time as city minister he was described as “unsociable” and “very smart” in a profile in City A.M. Before his parliamentary career, he worked at Rothschild & Co and PwC, eventually becoming the CFO of Sky. He currently holds the position of shadow secretary for science, innovation and technology. Good luck trying to catch him at this year’s conference, as he is appearing on seemingly every other panel.

Harriett Baldwin 

Baldwin is the MP for West Worcestershire, and was chair of the Treasury Select Committee from 2022 until 2024. Under her leadership, the committee held inquiries on sexism in the City, the impact of Russian sanctions, and the Edinburgh reforms, amongst other topics. Baldwin is the shadow minister for development. Speaking about Russian asset seizure, she told POLITICO in March that the U.K. cannot “go out and seize people’s assets randomly,” as “that would make us a kleptocratic regime.”

Jeremy Hunt 

The former chancellor narrowly held on to his seat of South West Surrey by just 891 votes. Since his departure from No.11, he’s been on the attack against the new government. After POLITICO revealed banker Ian Corfield had been given a plum job at the Treasury after donating thousands of pounds to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Hunt accused Labour of “cronyism,” and described Labour’s description of a budget “black hole” as “bogus.” “It’s clear that this fictitious ‘black hole’ is purely of Labour’s own making,” he told parliament a couple of weeks ago, “simply a political smokescreen for their public sector pay awards. The public won’t be fooled by this shameless pretext for tax rises.”

David Davis 

The arch-Euroskeptic and former Brexit secretary has been an MP since 1987. Davis just missed out on the position of chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC),  an influential position he held from 1997 to 2001. Davis told POLITICO  this month that “it’s not just the politicians [who dislike being held to account] — it’s the civil servants, too. In many ways, the PAC is the one that annoys the civil servants the most.”

Alan Mak 

The MP for Havant was a short-lived city minister as part of Johnson’s caretaker cabinet, from July to September 2022, before Liz Truss took over. He’s now taken on that role again in the shadow Cabinet team, as Treasury minister under Rishi Sunak’s opposition — although whether he’ll hold onto that position under a new leader remains to be seen. He was previously a parliamentary secretary for economic security in the Department for Business and Trade. Before his career in parliament, he was a lawyer at Clifford Chance working in the City. 

Gareth Davies

Exchequer secretary to the Treasury under Rishi Sunak’s government, and filling the same role in the current shadow cabinet, Davies has become a vocal opponent of Labour’s economic plans, arguing the new government is talking down the economy as an excuse to put taxes up. Davies was parliamentary private secretary to Jeremy Hunt when he was chancellor, and was on parliament’s Finance Select Committee and Treasury Select Committee.

Laura Trott

A rising star in the party, Trott was the former chief secretary to the Treasury under Rishi Sunak’s government. In the leadership contest to replace him, she has firmly backed Kemi Badenoch. Trott’s already emerged as a notable voice in opposition, having spent the summer attacking the new Labour government’s bleak message on the economy, planned tax rises and crony appointments to civil service roles.

Nigel Huddleston

The MP for Droitwich and Evesham and a former financial secretary to the Treasury under Rishi Sunak and ex-international trade minister. He’s also thrown his weight behind Badenoch, his former boss, in the battle to become the next Conservative leader. 

John Glen

A former Treasury minister, he’s well-loved in the City of London for his approach to financial services reforms after Brexit, including rewriting the rulebook for insurers and drawing up new objectives for the country’s financial regulators. A long-term ally of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he rose to the rank of paymaster general under the previous government. He’s now on the lookout for the next opportunity after failing to become chair of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee this summer.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

Clifton-Brown won the battle to become the chair-elect of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, a powerful role which will hold the government to account on public spending. He is a veteran Conservative MP, who has been in parliament for over 30 years and treasurer of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs. He lost out on chairing that committee over the summer before securing the PAC gig.

Danny Kruger

The MP for East Wiltshire, Kruger spent almost two years under the previous government on the influential Treasury Committee. Kruger was previously a Conservative Party policy adviser, and became David Cameron’s chief speechwriter in 2006. Kruger is the son of Prue Leith, best known for judging cakes and other carby goods on the Great British Bake Off.

Mel Stride

Stride failed to become the Conservative Party leader after this year’s election, but in the financial services world he’s still an important figure. The chair of the Treasury Committee from late 2019 until late 2022, when Harriett Baldwin took over, Stride then became minister for work and pensions under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Even if he doesn’t hold a role in the shadow cabinet, when the leader of the Tory Party is finally installed, he’s likely to have the ear of whoever is at the top of the party. 

The peer

Michael Forsyth 

A member of the House of Lords, Forsyth leads the Committee on Financial Services Regulation. He was a Conservative MP for Stirling from 1983 to 1997, and deputy chairman of JPMorgan between 2002 and 2005. The Committee has gone on the attack against the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) — trying, unsuccessfully, to get its chief exec to give evidence on the regulator’s controversial decision to “name and shame” companies being investigated. 

The Conservative supporters

Ed McGuinness

A Conservative campaigner, McGuinness is the president, chairman and founding member of Conservatives in the City. He also works as a vice president for JP Morgan, after unsuccessfully running to be a Tory MP in the seat of Surrey Heath (he lost to Al Pinkerton, a Lib Dem.) 

Douglas McNeill

McNeill is a Tory stalwart who managed to survive multiple administrations before the election finally felled him. His LinkedIn status states he is “recharging” — but as a former aide to Rishi Sunak, and before that George Osborne, McNeill’s opinions and ideas are still likely valued by a Conservative Party licking its wounds. 

Rupert Harrison

Harrison ran for parliament in July’s election, but wasn’t successful. He fell back to his old job as an economist and portfolio manager at investment giant BlackRock. But his views may still be valued in a diminished shadow Treasury as he has plenty of government experience, having been George Osborne’s chief of staff between 2006 and 2015, as well as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the U.K. Treasury.

Henry Newman

Newman may have lost his job after the Tories lost the election, but he will no doubt be sought after at the conference, as a former special adviser to Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. He also previously dictated policy outside of parliament as a director of the OpenEurope think tank, and now provides commentary via his personal Substack called The Whitehall Project. He’s been particularly vocal about “cronyism” wars in the Labour Party, including criticizing the government over POLITICO’s story that former Labour donor Ian Corfield landed a plum Treasury job.

The independents

Miles Celic

Celic is one of the most influential lobbyists in financial services, and will be at the Tory conference after attending the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. He is the boss of TheCityUK, and formed a close relationship with the previous government and now Labour. Celic is invited to various committee hearings for his opinions on financial policy and regulation, and the Treasury respects his ideas. He knows his way around, having previously worked in parliament on foreign affairs and defense issues.

Tom Clougherty

Clougherty is executive director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, the influential think tank heeded by governments past and present. Clougherty has solid knowledge and opinions on all things tax and economic growth. Prior to joining the IEA, he was research director and head of tax at the Centre for Policy Studies, and spent some time at the left-leaning Resolution Foundation. 

Sheree Howard

She’s not politically aligned, as a senior regulator at the Financial Conduct Authority, but she’s appearing on two panels at the conference and will be around for some side lobbying. Howard is the City regulator’s executive director of authorizations and joined the FCA in 2017, initially as a special adviser. She’s got a long history of working in the City, including spending a long time as an actuary.