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

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

politician, who served as

Leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. Full council meetings ...

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

investment banker Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by unde ...

with

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Early life and education

Born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

and educated at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, 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 (formerly Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW)) is a global public relations and communications firm, headquartered in New York City, focused on building reputation for clients. In February 2018, parent WPP Group PLC announced that it had merged it ...

. 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 1992 ...

, 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 centre-right think tanks, think tank and advocacy group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," lo ...

. Roe gave up her job at

when she became the mother of twins. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, 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 district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

ward, a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

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

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

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 * Filin ...

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. 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 who was Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor from July to November 2024. He most recently served as Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Pr ...

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

Dame Shirley Porter Dame Shirley, Lady Porter DBE (''née'' Cohen; born 29 November 1930) is a British politician who led Westminster City Council in London from 1983 to 1991, representing the Conservative Party. She is the daughter and heiress of Sir Jack Cohe ...

. 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 requir ...

for Westminster. She also sat on the London Enterprise Panel. 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 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

age in

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

Resignation Honours The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are honours granted at the behest of an outgoing prime minister following their resignation. In such a list, a prime minister may ask the monarch to bestow peerages, or lesser honours ...

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 (Evie), 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 politically conservative news website and events company. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about both social justice and a fair ...

Pippa Crerar Pippa Crerar (born 19 June 1976) is a British journalist who is the political editor of ''The Guardian''. She was previously the ''Daily Mirror''s political editor from 2018 to 2022. While at the ''Mirror'', she reported extensively on Partygate, ...

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

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'' online {{DEFAULTSORT:Couttie, Philippa Roe, Baroness 1962 births 2022 deaths 20th-century British businesswomen 21st-century British businesswomen Businesspeople from the London Borough of Camden Conservative Party (UK) life peers Conservative Party (UK) councillors Politicians from the London Borough of Camden 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 Life peers created by Elizabeth II Place of death missing Deaths from cancer People from Hampstead