Philippa Marion Roe, Baroness Couttie (25 September 1962 – 12 December 2022) was a British

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 i ...

politician, who served as

Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

from 2012 to 2017. Before entering public life she was an

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

with

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

Early life and education

Born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

and educated at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, Roe was a director of

before entering politics in 2006. The daughter of James Roe and former

MP Dame Marion Roe, Philippa had a younger sister and younger brother. 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 Burson Cohn & Wolfe is a multinational public relations and communications firm, headquartered in New York City. In February 2018, parent WPP Group PLC announced that it had merged its subsidiaries Cohn & Wolfe with Burson-Marsteller. The combi ...

. 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 The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

, and in 2004 Roe was the joint author of a report called "Reforming the Private Finance Initiative", published by the

Centre for Policy Studies The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independe ...

. Roe gave up her job at

when she became the mother of twins. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, soon after this, Roe was elected to

, representing the three-member

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

and

Belgravia Belgravia () is a Districts of London, district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' Tudor Period, during the ...

ward, a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for her party. At that time, she had recently recovered from cancer. She was appointed a governor of

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

and in 2008 became the member of Westminster's

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

for Housing. In

May 2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

, 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. 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 Edward John Comport Argar (born 9 December 1977) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Victims and Sentencing since October 2022. He briefly served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in October 2022. A member of the Conserva ...

for the nomination, and quickly distanced herself from a comparison with a predecessor,

Dame Shirley Porter Shirley, Lady Porter (''née'' Cohen; born 29 November 1930), styled between 1991 and 2003 as Dame Shirley Porter, is a British politician who led Westminster City Council in London, representing the Conservative Party. She is the daughter and ...

. The same year, she took over the role of chairman of the statutory

Health and Wellbeing Board Health and wellbeing boards are statutory bodies introduced in England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, whose role is to promote integrated working among local providers of healthcare and social care. Establishment The 2012 Act require ...

for Westminster. She also sat on the

London Enterprise Panel The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the exec ...

. In 2013, she was quoted as saying that "local people know best" 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." She was re-elected as a councillor in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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. In July 2015, Roe announced that she was seeking her party's nomination to stand as

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...

at the May 2016 election. However, she was not shortlisted by the Conservatives. Roe was nominated for a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

age in

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

Resignation Honours The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, honours granted at the behest of an outgoing Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister following their resignation ...

and was created Baroness Couttie, of Downe in the County of Kent, on 5 September 2016. Couttie was the surname of her husband Stephen.

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

References

External links

The Leader and the Cabinet
at westminster.gov.uk (official site)

at Westminster Conservatives (party site) * Philippa Roe

at

ConservativeHome ConservativeHome is a British right-wing blog which supports, but is independent of, the Conservative Party. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about bot ...

* Pippa Crerar
Tory mayoral hopeful: I would give more power to London's town halls
dated 25 July 2015 in ''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' online {{DEFAULTSORT:Couttie, Philippa Roe, Baroness 1962 births 2022 deaths 20th-century British businesswomen 21st-century British businesswomen Businesspeople from London Conservative Party (UK) life peers Conservative Party (UK) councillors Politicians from London Alumni of the University of St Andrews Councillors in the City of Westminster Leaders of local authorities of England Women councillors in England Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Place of death missing Deaths from cancer People from Hampstead