- published: 14 Jul 2016
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The Right Honourable Philip Anthony Hammond PC MP (born 4 December 1955) is a British Conservative politician who has been the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs since 15 July 2014.
Hammond first entered Parliament following his election in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge.
He was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet by David Cameron in 2005 as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, remaining in this position until a 2007 reshuffle, when he became Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He was reshuffled to Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 15 July 2014.
After the formation of the Coalition Government in May 2010, he was appointed Secretary of State for Transport and was sworn of the Privy Council. Upon the resignation of Liam Fox over a scandal in October 2011, Hammond was promoted to Secretary of State for Defence and, in July 2014, he became Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
George Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2010 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton since 2001.
Osborne worked for The Daily Telegraph before joining the Conservative Research Department and becoming head of its political section. He was a special adviser to Douglas Hogg at the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and worked at 10 Downing Street as well as for Prime Minister John Major's campaign team in the party's unsuccessful 1997 general election campaign before becoming a speechwriter and political secretary to Major's successor as party leader, William Hague.
In 2001, Osborne was elected as MP for Tatton, becoming the youngest Conservative MP in the House of Commons. He was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Conservative leader Michael Howard in 2004. In 2005, he ran David Cameron's successful leadership campaign. Cameron appointed Osborne Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and, after the 2010 general election, Chancellor in the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government.