Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp (born 6 July 1976) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire since October 2022. He served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General in October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Croydon South since May 2015. In August 2019, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid. In September 2019, he was appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Ministry of Justice and in February 2020 at the Home Office. He was also briefly the Minister for London from December 2019 to February 2020. He was moved to the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy by Johnson in the September 2021 reshuffle. He resigned from this post during the July 2022 government crisis. After Johnson resigned in July 2022, Philp supported Liz Truss’s bid to become Conservative leader. Following Truss's appointment as Prime Minister, she appointed Philp as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in September 2022. When Kwasi Kwarteng was dismissed as Chancellor in October 2022, Philp was replaced as Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Edward Argar and in turn succeeded Argar as Paymaster General. Early years Philp attended the selective St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, Kent, and then studied physics at University College, Oxford. In 1996 he was editor of the Oxford University student newspaper, Cherwell. Business career Philp worked for McKinsey & Company before co-founding distribution business Blueheath Holdings, in 2000. It was floated on the AIM before merging with Booker Cash & Carry as part of the Booker Group in a £375 million deal. With fellow future Conservative Party MP Sam Gyimah, he founded Clearstone Training and Recruitment Limited, an HGV training provider, which went into liquidation owing nearly 4 million to its customers, many of which were long term unemployed.. Philp also founded property development lender Pluto Finance and Moreof Silverstone, which are registered in Jersey. He founded the charity 'The Next Big Thing' which was dissolved owing to insufficient funds. Political career Philp was Chairman of the Bow Group, a Conservative Party think tank, from 2004 to 2005. Philp defeated the Labour Leader of Camden Council to become a councillor in the Gospel Oak ward of Camden in May 2006 with a