Claire Perry

Early life

The youngest of three children, Perry was raised in North Somerset. She was educated at Nailsea School and Brasenose College, Oxford, where she read Geography, graduating in 1985. One of her contemporaries at Brasenose was journalist George Monbiot, who described her in his column for The Guardian as, at the time, "a firebrand who wanted to nationalise the banks and overthrow capitalism". She later gained an MBA at Harvard University.

Perry worked in banking and finance for Bank of America, McKinsey & Company and Credit Suisse.

Political career

After joining the Conservative party in 2006, Perry worked for the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne. She was selected in November 2009 as a Conservative candidate after Michael Ancram announced his intention to stand down from Devizes, a safe seat for her party. In her maiden speech she was critical of the previous Labour government's management of the rural economy adding, "...we do not get as many jobcentres per head of the population in rural Britain." She also paid tribute to the Armed Forces as Devizes is home to 11,000 soldiers.

In October 2011, Perry was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Defence. She held this role until October 2013, when she became a Government Assistant Whip. On 15 July 2014, Perry was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, with responsibility for rail fares, rail franchising, freight and logistics and transport agencies. She resigned from this position on 14 July 2016, at the time of the reshuffle, when Theresa May became Prime Minister, the day after saying in a debate she was "often ashamed to be the Rail Minister."

Perry campaigned for improvements in online safety, and in 2011 led an Independent Parliamentary Inquiry into Online Child Protection, with a particular focus on online pornography. She was subsequently appointed by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, as an adviser on preventing the sexualisation and commercialisation of children.

Perry argued for blocks on pornography for all internet users unless they opt out of it, citing the need to protect children. In July 2013, hackers placed pornographic images on Perry's own website. Perry accused political blogger Paul Staines – known for his Guido Fawkes blog – of sponsoring the attack, while Staines threatened to sue her for libel if the claim was not removed. After Internet filters started to be rolled out, news agencies reported that a wide range of non-pornographic websites were now being censored by UK ISPs as a result of false-positive results for blocked phrases, including Perry's own website, as a result of her frequent use of words such as "porn" and "sex" in web posts about her pro-censorship campaign.

In 2012, Perry mistakenly stated that the national debt and national deficit were the same thing in a discussion on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Perry campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU during the 2016 membership referendum, and argued after the vote that some members of her party were "like jihadis" in their support for a "hard Brexit" and said the tone of the debate on leaving the European Union "borders on the hysterical". She was one of only seven Conservative MPs to vote for an amendment arguing that parliament should have the final say on any deal to leave the EU. She subsequently voted with her party in approving the decision to enact Article 50 and start the process of leaving the EU.

Personal life

Perry has three children from her former marriage. She currently lives in Pewsey Vale.