Claire Regina Fox, Baroness Fox of Buckley (born 5 June 1960), is a British writer, journalist, lecturer and politician who sits in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

as a non-affiliated life peer. She is the director and founder of the

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

Institute of Ideas. A lifelong

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

, she was previously a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party but later began identifying as a

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

. She became a registered supporter of the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant ...

shortly after its formation and was elected as an MEP in the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

. She was nominated for a peerage by the

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...

-led

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

government in 2020, despite her past opposition to the existence of the

Early life and career

Fox was born in 1960 to

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

parents, John Fox and Maura Cleary. She grew up in Buckley, Wales. After attending St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School in

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...

, she studied at the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020 ...

where she graduated with a lower second class degree (2:2) in English and American Literature. She later gained a

Professional Graduate Certificate in Education The Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (ProfGCE) is an award in England and Wales for undergraduate degree holders that attended the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and trained to be a teacher A teacher, also call ...

. From 1981 to 1987, she was a

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles Stress (biology), stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-maki ...

social worker. She was later an English Language and Literature lecturer at Thurrock Technical College from 1987 to 1990 and at

West Herts College West Herts College is a college for further education in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The college has campuses in Watford, Hemel Hempstead and Kings Langley. As of 2017 the college has 5,900 students on study programmes or apprenticesh ...

from 1992 to 1999.

Revolutionary Communist Party

Fox joined the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) as a student at the University of Warwick. For the next twenty years, she was one of the RCP's core activists and organisers. She became co-publisher of its magazine ''

Living Marxism ''Living Marxism'' was a British magazine originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Rebranded as ''LM'' in 1992, it ceased publication in March 2000 following a successful libel lawsuit brought by ...

''. When ''Living Marxism'' rebranded as ''LM'' in 1999, she organised its first conference. LM closed in 2000 after it was found in court to have falsely accused

Independent Television News Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...

(ITN) of faking evidence of the

Bosnian genocide The Bosnian genocide ( bs, bosanski genocid) refers to either the Srebrenica massacre or the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing campaign throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Bosnian War o ...

. In 2018, Fox refused to apologise for suggesting that evidence of the genocide was faked. Fox stayed with her ex-RCP members when the group transformed itself in the early 2000s into a network around the web magazine ''

Spiked Online ''Spiked'' (also written as ''sp!ked'') is a British Internet magazine focusing on politics, culture and society. The magazine was founded in 2001 with the same editor and many of the same contributors as ''Living Marxism'', which had closed i ...

'' and the Institute of Ideas, both based in the former RCP offices and promoting

libertarianism Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

. Author and environmental activist

George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books. Monbiot grew up in Oxfordsh ...

has argued these groups are part of the "pro-corporate

libertarian right Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism" ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...

Media career

After founding the Institute of Ideas, Fox became a guest panellist on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

programme '' The Moral Maze'' and appeared as a panellist on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

's political television programme ''

Question Time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...

''. She was criticised in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' for rejecting

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

as divisive and for her libertarian beliefs in the desirability of minimal governmental control and

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

in all contexts. She was also accused in 2005 of supporting "

Gary Glitter Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), best known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He achieved success during the glam rock era of the 1970s and 1980s, and his career ended after he ...

's right to download child porn". In 2015, Fox was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women. Her book, ''I Find That Offensive!'', was published in 2016.

Return to politics

In April 2019, Fox became a registered supporter of the

. She was in the first position in the list for the Brexit Party in the

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

constituency at the

. Her selection was criticised by the father of murdered schoolboy Tim Parry for her past support for the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

and for the RCP's defence of the 1993 IRA Warrington bombings, which had killed his son within the North West England constituency. Another candidate for the Brexit Party, Sally Bate, resigned, citing Fox's "ambiguous position" on IRA violence. A Brexit Party spokesperson commented on the criticism of Fox: "It's a desperate attempt to cause trouble". Fox was subsequently elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

. After standing down as an MEP when the United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020, Fox was nominated for a peerage in July of that year. She sits as a non-affiliated peer. The Lord Caine, a long-serving Conservative Party adviser on Northern Ireland, criticised the decision, as did victims of IRA terror attacks. She previously claimed to be against the existence of the

, and congratulated Liberal Democrats for not taking up peerages in a 2015 tweet. She was created ''The Baroness Fox of Buckley'' on 14 September and was introduced to the Lords on 8 October 2020. On 7 June 2022, Fox reiterated her stance against the existence of the

, and claimed her decision to accept a life peerage as "pragmatic", resting on her belief such a position would provide a "platform" to enact political "change". On 9 November 2020, speaking in the Lords in favour of the

Internal Market Bill The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in December 2020. It is concerned with trade within the UK, as the UK is no longer subject to EU law. The act seeks to prevent internal trade b ...

, Fox described

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

as "a supranational instrument for undermining national sovereignty" and said that, rather than breaking the law, the UK government were making the law. On 6 June 2022, she criticized the decision of

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irel ...

to cancel screenings of the movie '' The Lady of Heaven'' as a sign of a creeping extra-parliamentary

blasphemy law A blasphemy law is a law prohibiting blasphemy, which is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. According to Pew Research Center, abou ...

. She likened it to

cancel culture Cancel culture, or rarely also known as call-out culture, is a phrase contemporary to the late 2010s and early 2020s used to refer to a form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles—whether it be online, o ...

, calling it a disaster for the arts, dangerous for free speech and a lesson to those who don't see a threat in

identity politics Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...

Personal life

Fox is the elder sister of British writer Fiona Fox and Gemma Fox."Claire and Fiona Fox, sisters"
''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' (May 2006) – An interview with Claire and Fiona Fox Fiona was also a ''Living Marxism'' contributor and later became director of the non-profit organisation

Science Media Centre The Science Media Centre is a charitable company, first formed in 2002, two years after the United Kingdom House of Lords Select committee on Science and Technology's third report on "Science and Society" in 2000. This report stated that while ...

References

External links

House of Lords: Baroness Fox of Buckley

Institute of Ideas biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Claire 1960 births 20th-century Welsh educators 21st-century Welsh women politicians 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers 21st-century women MEPs for England Alumni of the University of Greenwich Alumni of the University of Warwick BBC 100 Women BBC people Brexit Party MEPs British Eurosceptics British Marxists British baronesses British magazine publishers (people) British people of Irish descent British political commentators British political writers Critics of multiculturalism English libertarians English social workers English women writers Former Marxists Free speech activists Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Living people MEPs for England 2019–2020 People educated at St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint People from Buckley, Flintshire Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1978) members Teachers of English Welsh libertarians Welsh social workers