swing of over 10%, the first Conservative to win the ward in over 20 years. He did not stand at the 2010 local elections. At the 2010 general election, Philp was the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, losing by 42 votes to Labour's sitting MP Glenda Jackson, but increasing the Conservative vote share by nearly 10 percentage points compared to the previous election. Philp's book Conservative Revival: Blueprint for a Better Britain was published in conjunction with the Bow Group and was co-authored by 10 Conservative MPs, or recent candidates in their 30s, and with a foreword written by David Cameron, the then Leader of the Opposition. Philp was also the author of "Work for the Dole: A proposal to fix welfare dependency", published by The Taxpayers' Alliance in September 2013. His report called for mandatory participation in community work and training in return for the continued payment of benefits payments. In November 2013, Philp was selected to be the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Croydon South. The seat was held by the Conservative MP Richard Ottaway, who was retiring at the next general election. On 7 May 2015, Philp was elected as the Member of Parliament for Croydon South, with a majority of over 17,000, the highest achieved in the constituency for over 20 years. Shortly after being elected to Parliament, Philp became the first of the 2015 Conservative intake to be elected by other MPs to the influential Treasury Select Committee. Philp wrote "Restoring Responsible Ownership", a report on corporate rules which recommended greater shareholder control over company directors' appointments and pay. Philp's proposals received positive coverage for mounting "pressure" and arguing that "asset managers had to do much more to engage with companies, in particular to exert some degree of control over executive pay". Philp was opposed to Brexit before the 2016 European membership referendum. Philp supports selective grammar schools, arguing for one to open a satellite in his constituency to circumvent a ban in England on new selective schools and the borough council's own non-selective policy. In May 2016, when debating the Government's Starter Homes Initiative, Philp was accused by housing charities of failing to understand how a couple buying a house for the first time cannot afford a £10,000 deposit. Responding to criticism, he stated "No one says it is easy, the average age of a first time buyer these days is about 30