{{Short description|British writer and politician (born 1960)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Use British English|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Baroness Fox of Buckley | honorific_suffix = | image = Official portrait of Baroness Fox of Buckley crop 2.jpg | image_size = | caption = Official portrait, 2020 | office = Member of the House of Lords | status = Lord Temporal | term_label = Life peerage | term_start = 14 September 2020 | term_end = | office1 = Member of the European Parliament<br />for North West England | status1 = | term_start1 = 2 July 2019 | term_end1 = 31 January 2020 | predecessor1 = Paul Nuttall | successor1 = ''Constituency abolished'' | birth_name = Claire Regina Fox | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|06|05|df=y}} | birth_place = Barton-upon-Irwell, Lancashire, England | alma_mater = University of Warwick<br />University of Greenwich | occupation = Writer and broadcaster | known_for = Director and founder of Institute of Ideas | party = Independent (1997–2019; 2020–present) | other_party = Brexit (2019–2020) <br /> Revolutionary Communist (before 1997) | spouse = | parents = | children = | relations = Fiona Fox (sister) | website = | citizenship = }}
'''Claire Regina Fox, Baroness Fox of Buckley''' (born 5 June 1960), is a British writer, journalist, lecturer and politician who sits in the House of Lords as a non-affiliated life peer. A right-wing libertarian, she is the director and founder of think tank the Academy of Ideas, formerly known as the Institute of Ideas.
A lifelong Eurosceptic, she was previously a member of the Trotskyist British Revolutionary Communist Party but later began identifying as a libertarian. She became a registered supporter of the Brexit Party shortly after its formation and was elected as an MEP in the 2019 European Parliament election. She was nominated for a peerage by the Boris Johnson-led Conservative government in 2020,<ref>{{cite news|first1=Simon|last1=Murphy|first2=Jim|last2=Waterson|accessdate=2021-04-08|title=Evgeny Lebedev, Jo Johnson and Ian Botham among 36 peerage nominations|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/31/evgeny-lebedev-jo-johnson-and-ian-botham-among-36-peerage-nominations-boris|newspaper=The Guardian|date=31 July 2020|issn=0261-3077|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> despite her past opposition to the existence of the House of Lords.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Urwin |first1=Rosamund |title=Brexit peer Claire Fox still wants to abolish Lords |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/brexit-peer-claire-fox-still-wants-to-abolish-lords-v3kncvtrm |access-date=13 May 2021 |work=The Sunday Times |date=2 August 2020}}</ref>
== Early life and career == Fox was born in 1960 to Irish Catholic parents, John Fox and Maura Cleary.<ref name="guardian-20051119" /> She spent her early years in Buckley, Wales.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/18074231.brexit-party-leader-nigel-farage-tells-north-wales-voters-choice-beyond-main-two-parties/|title=Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage tells North Wales voters they have a choice beyond the main two parties |date=2 December 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/local-politicians-buckley-claire-fox-house-of-lords|title=Local Politicians in a Small Welsh Town Are Furious Claire Fox is Using Its Name as She Enters the House of Lords |date=8 October 2020 }}</ref> After attending St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School in Flint, she studied at the University of Warwick where she graduated with a lower second class degree (2:2) in English and American Literature.<ref name="guardian-20051119">{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/nov/19/comment.radio |title=Infamy's child – Stuart Jeffries finds Claire Fox still takes joy in riling the liberal left |first=Stuart |last=Jeffries |newspaper=The Guardian |date=19 November 2005 |access-date=25 July 2015}}</ref> She later gained a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Claire Fox: 'I'm not sectarian enough to say "I'm not going to say that because he's a Tory"'|url=http://www.may2015.com/interviews/claire-fox-im-not-sectarian-enough-to-say-im-not-going-to-say-that-because-hes-a-tory/|access-date=17 July 2020|website=The New Statesman: 2015 General Election Guide|language=en-US|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220120221/http://www.may2015.com/interviews/claire-fox-im-not-sectarian-enough-to-say-im-not-going-to-say-that-because-hes-a-tory/|url-status=dead}}</ref> From 1981 to 1987, she was a mental health social worker. She was later an English Language and Literature lecturer at Thurrock Technical College from 1987 to 1990 and at West Herts College from 1992 to 1999.<ref name="bbc-bio" />
== Revolutionary Communist Party == Fox joined the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) as a student at the University of Warwick.<ref name="lrb-20100708">{{cite news |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n13/jenny-turner/who-are-they |title=Who Are They? – Jenny Turner reports from the Battle of Ideas |first=Jenny |last=Turner |newspaper=London Review of Books |date=8 July 2010 |access-date=25 July 2015}}</ref> For the next twenty years, she was one of the RCP's core activists and organisers. She became co-publisher of its magazine ''Living Marxism''.<ref name="guardian-20030326">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jul/08/davidpallister.johnvidal1 |title=Life after Living Marxism: Fighting for freedom – to offend, outrage and question everything |first=David |last=Pallister |newspaper=The Guardian |date=8 July 2000 |access-date=23 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="Smith 2022 pp. 1–39">{{cite journal | last=Smith | first=Evan | title=A Platform for Working Class Unity? The Revolutionary Communist Party's The Red Front and the pre-history of Living Marxism/Spiked Online in the 1980s | journal=Contemporary British History | publisher=Informa UK Limited | date=21 November 2022 | volume=37 | issn=1361-9462 | doi=10.1080/13619462.2022.2142780 | pages=89–127| s2cid=253791729 }}</ref> When ''Living Marxism'' rebranded as ''LM'' in 1999, she organised its first conference.<ref name="the Guardian 1999">{{cite web | title=Licence to rile | website=the Guardian | date=15 May 1999 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/may/15/weekend7.weekend2 | access-date=29 December 2022}}</ref>
''LM'' closed in 2000 after it was found in court to have falsely accused Independent Television News (ITN) of faking evidence of the Bosnian genocide.<ref name="guardian-20051119"/> In 2018, Fox refused to apologise for suggesting that evidence of the genocide was faked.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Outfoxing Nigel |magazine=Private Eye |number=1495 |page=10 |date=3 May 2019 |quote=Last year the journalists who run London's Frontline Club considered inviting Fox to speak. Vulliamy insisted she apologise to the camp victims first, but Fox refused.}}</ref>
Fox stayed with her ex-RCP members when the group transformed itself in the early 2000s into a network around the web magazine ''Spiked Online'' and the Institute of Ideas, both based in the former RCP offices and promoting libertarianism.<ref name="guardian-20030326"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Former communist standing as MEP for Farage's Brexit party|first=Peter|last=Walker|date=23 April 2019|work=The Guardian|location=London|access-date=8 May 2019|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/23/former-communist-claire-fox-standing-as-mep-for-farages-brexit-party}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Farage in pole position for European Parliament elections|date=23 April 2019|first=Denis|last=Staunton|newspaper=The Irish Times|location=Dublin|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/farage-in-pole-position-for-european-parliament-elections-1.3869562|access-date=10 May 2019}}</ref>
== Media career == After founding the Institute of Ideas, Fox became a guest panellist on BBC Radio 4 programme ''The Moral Maze'' and appeared as a panellist on BBC One's political television programme ''Question Time''.<ref name="bbc-bio">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/moralmaze/moralmaze_claire_fox.shtml |title=The Moral Maze – Claire Fox |work=The Moral Maze |publisher=BBC |access-date=11 January 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/01_january/14/question_time_150104.shtml |publisher=BBC |title=BBC ONE Question Time guests for 15 January 2004 |quote=The panellists are: David Miliband MP, Minister for Schools; George Osborne MP, Shadow Treasury Minister; Baroness Williams, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords; Dr David Starkey, Historian and Broadcaster; and Claire Fox, Director of the Institute of Ideas. |access-date=25 November 2016}}</ref> She was criticised in ''The Guardian'' for rejecting multiculturalism as divisive and for her libertarian beliefs in the desirability of minimal governmental control and free speech in all contexts.<ref name="guardian-20051119" />
In 2015, Fox was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-34745739|title=BBC 100 Women 2015: Who is on the list?|date=17 November 2015|work=BBC News|access-date=17 August 2019|language=en-GB}}</ref> Her book, ''I Find That Offensive!'', was published in 2016.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Claire|title=I Find That Offensive!|publisher=Biteback Publishing|year=2016|isbn=978-1-849-54981-3|location=London}}</ref>
== Return to politics == In April 2019, Fox became a registered supporter of the Brexit Party.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mason|first=Rowena|date=18 April 2019|title=Nigel Farage has near-total control of Brexit party, constitution suggests|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/18/nigel-farage-has-near-total-control-of-brexit-party-constitution-suggests}}</ref> She was in the first position in the list for the Brexit Party in the North West England constituency at the 2019 European Parliament election.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/europarl.uk-north-west.2019-05-23/north-west/ |work=whocanivotefor.co.uk |title=European Parliament (UK) elections – North West region |access-date=6 May 2019 }}</ref> Her selection was criticised by the father of murdered schoolboy Tim Parry for her past support for the Provisional Irish Republican Army and for the RCP's defence of the 1993 IRA Warrington bombings, which had killed his son within the North West England constituency.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/17607393.dan-price-hits-out-at-claire-fox-of-brexit-party-over-ira/|title=Brexit Party candidate slammed as 'absolutely disgraceful' over IRA bombing views|date=30 April 2019|work=Warrington Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-48112981|title=Brexit Party candidate criticised for past IRA defence|date=30 April 2019|work=BBC News|access-date=30 April 2019}}</ref> Another candidate for the Brexit Party, Sally Bate, resigned, citing Fox's "ambiguous position" on IRA violence.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-48141670|title=IRA row: Warrington Brexit MEP candidate quits|date=2 May 2019|work=BBC News|access-date=14 May 2019}}</ref> A Brexit Party spokesperson commented on the criticism of Fox: "It's a desperate attempt to cause trouble".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/nigel-farages-brexit-party-candidate-questioned-over-past-ira-views-38064692.html|title=Nigel Farage's Brexit Party candidate questioned over past IRA views|date=30 April 2019|work=The Belfast Telegraph}}</ref> Fox was subsequently elected to the European Parliament.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48417394|title=European elections 2019: Brexit Party wins three North West seats|work=BBC News|date=27 May 2019}}</ref>
After standing down as an MEP when the United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020, Fox was nominated for a peerage in July of that year. She sits as a non-affiliated peer.<ref>[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/906078/Political_Peerages_2020.pdf Political Peerages 2020] Gov.uk</ref> The Lord Caine, a long-serving Conservative Party adviser on Northern Ireland, criticised the decision, as did victims of IRA terror attacks.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Devenport |first1=Mark |title=Claire Fox: From IRA comments controversy to a peerage |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-53866958 |access-date=17 November 2020 |work=BBC News |date=22 August 2020}}</ref> She previously claimed to be against the existence of the House of Lords, and congratulated Liberal Democrats for not taking up peerages in a 2015 tweet.<ref>{{cite news|title=BREXITEERS OF THE WEEK: Farage ally who said it took 'democratic principle' to turn down peerage set to join Lords|date=7 August 2020|first=Steve|last=Anglesey|url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/claire-fox-on-peerages-and-house-of-lords-1-6783435|access-date=9 August 2020|work=The New European|archive-date=10 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810113925/https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/claire-fox-on-peerages-and-house-of-lords-1-6783435|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Fox|first=Claire|date=15 May 2020|title=Impressively (&sort of touching) lib-dem-y Rediscovery of democratic principles in turning down Lords 4 unelected|url=https://twitter.com/fox_claire/status/599325830951612416|access-date=2020-08-02|website=Twitter|language=en}}</ref> She was created '''''The Baroness Fox of Buckley''''' on 14 September<ref>{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4887/contact |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=14 September 2020 |title=Baroness Fox of Buckley}}</ref> and was introduced to the Lords on 8 October 2020.<ref>{{cite hansard |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |title=Introduction: Baroness Fox of Buckley |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2020-10-08/debates/D915CBF3-CCC7-4038-9BAA-5F0B4F93F8A8/IntroductionBaronessFoxOfBuckley |house=House of Lords |date=2020-10-08 |column= |speaker= |position=}}</ref> On 7 June 2022, Fox reiterated her stance against the existence of the House of Lords, and defended her decision to accept a life peerage as "pragmatic", resting on her belief such a position would provide a platform to enact political change.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cross Question with Iain Dale - Podcast |url=https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episodes/7Dre75Y/ |access-date=2022-06-08 |website=Global Player |language=en}}</ref>
On 9 November 2020, speaking in the Lords in favour of the Internal Market Bill, Fox described international law as "a supranational instrument for undermining national sovereignty" and said that, rather than breaking the law, the UK government were making the law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2020-11-09/debates/67BF795E-B630-4922-B1AB-2A0197888C5C/UnitedKingdomInternalMarketBill|title=United Kingdom Internal Market Bill – Monday 9 November 2020 – Hansard|website=hansard.parliament.uk|date=3 June 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/18859879.claire-fox-accidentally-votes-law-breaking-internal-market-bill/|title=Brexiteer Lord accidentally votes against Internal Market Bill she supports|date=10 November 2020|website=The National}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1358179/brexit-news-uk-eu-house-of-lords-Claire-Fox-internal-market-bill-boris-johnson/amp|title=Brexit news: Claire Fox savages Remainer Lords 'This memory loss is DOUBLE standards!'|date=9 November 2020|website=www.express.co.uk}}</ref>
On 6 June 2022, she criticised the decision of Cineworld to cancel screenings of the movie ''The Lady of Heaven'' as a sign of a creeping extra-parliamentary blasphemy law. She likened it to cancel culture, calling it a disaster for the arts, dangerous for free speech and a lesson to those who don't see a threat in identity politics.<ref name="Guardian070722">{{cite news |title=UK cinema chain cancels screenings of 'blasphemous' film after protests |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/07/uk-cinema-chain-cancels-screenings-of-film-the-lady-of-heaven-after-protests |access-date=7 June 2022 |author1=Pidd, Helen |author2=Murray, Jessica |author3=Pulverwork, Andrew |work=The Guardian |date=7 June 2022}}</ref>
In July 2025, Fox was one of 16 members of the House of Lords who voted against the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.<ref>https://votes.parliament.uk/votes/lords/division/3339</ref>
== Personal life == Fox is the elder sister of British writer Fiona Fox and Gemma Fox.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140714174946/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/article202877.ece "Claire and Fiona Fox, sisters"], ''The Sunday Times'' (May 2006) – An interview with Claire and Fiona Fox</ref> Fiona was also a ''Living Marxism'' contributor and later became director of the non-profit organisation Science Media Centre.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Monbiot |first=George |date=2003-12-09 |title=George Monbiot: Invasion of the entryists |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/dec/09/highereducation.uk2 |access-date=2020-08-04 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="naturenews">{{Cite journal|last1=Callaway|first1=E.|year=2013|title=Science media: Centre of attention: Fiona Fox and her Science Media Centre are determined to improve Britain's press. Now the model is spreading around the world|journal=Nature|volume=499|issue=7457|pages=142–144|doi=10.1038/499142a|pmid=23846643|doi-access=free}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == {{commons category}} *[http://clairefox.org.uk/ Personal website] * [https://members.parliament.uk/member/4887/contact House of Lords: Baroness Fox of Buckley] * [http://instituteofideas.com/aboutus/person/claire_fox Institute of Ideas biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220022822/http://instituteofideas.com/aboutus/person/claire_fox |date=20 December 2017 }}
{{S-start}} {{S-prec|uk}} {{S-bef|before=The Baroness Hoey}} {{S-ttl|title=Ladies}} {{S-aft|after=The Baroness Fleet}} {{S-end}} {{Brexit Party}} {{RCP}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Claire}} Category:1960 births Category:20th-century Welsh educators Category:21st-century Welsh women politicians Category:21st-century Welsh women writers Category:21st-century Welsh writers Category:21st-century women MEPs for England Category:Alumni of the University of Greenwich Category:Alumni of the University of Warwick Category:BBC people Category:Brexit Party MEPs Category:British Eurosceptics Category:British women Marxists Category:British magazine publishers (people) Category:British people of Irish descent Category:British political commentators Category:British political writers Category:Critics of multiculturalism Category:English libertarians Category:English social workers Category:21st-century British women writers Category:Former Marxists Category:British free speech activists Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Living people Category:MEPs for England 2019–2020 Category:People educated at St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint Category:People from Buckley, Flintshire Category:Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1978) members Category:Teachers of English Category:Welsh libertarians Category:Welsh social workers Category:British women civil rights activists