Labour has pushed UK into ‘moment of economic peril’ as Keir Starmer savaged

Chris Philp spent his childhood summer holidays helping his archaeologist dad dig up Britain’s ancient past. Often staying in a caravan on site, they excavated the likes of Roman villas, iron age hill forts and medieval churches.

Today he is at the heart of a new rescue mission, fighting to ensure there is a future for the Conservative party. The 48-year-old Shadow Home Secretary’s day job involves thinking about threats from terrorists and rogue states which would keep most people awake at night.

This father of twins is in no doubt that is behind acts of murder and sabotage and he ardently opposes China building a “super-embassy” in the UK. He warns this could become a base for “pan-European espionage”. But he is also outraged at the “heartbreaking” damage he warns Labour is inflicting on an economy he says is in a state of “peril”, claiming that “tens of thousands” of jobs could go soon.

He has been an MP for nearly a decade yet he has the drive of a new arrival and yearns to get back into Government. For some MPs Opposition is a chance to catch a breather – but Chris has always lived a high-energy life.

As a youngster growing up in southeast London, he remembers: “I did a paper round, I used to wash cars for neighbours, my first proper job was stacking shelves in Sainsbury’s, so I’ve always believed in hard work.”

Winning a place at St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington unlocked new opportunities.

“I’m a huge fan now of grammar schools and would love to see them expanded,” he says. “No question – without that grammar school I would never have got to Oxford to study Physics.”

After a spell at elite management consultancy McKinsey and adventures with a distribution start-up he challenged Oscar-winning actress and Labour MP Glenda Jackson for her Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in 2010, finishing just 42 votes behind her.

In 2013 he faced an intense personal drama when his twins were born at just 25 weeks. He credits the NHS with saving their lives.

Chris won Croydon South at the next election and was entrusted with a string of ministerial posts under , Liz Truss – serving briefly as her Chief Secretary to the Treasury – and .

The challenge of getting back into Government is complicated with the arrival of ’s Reform UK in Parliament. The are in third place in the opinion polls and in the summer election he saw his majority fall by more than 10,000 votes to 2,313.

Chris wants his party to get a “programme for the country” in place so the “mistakes” which lost the the trust of voters are “never made again”.

Sitting in his Commons office in a quiet corner of the Westminster estate, he says: “The last Government, just speaking honestly, allowed illegal migration to get far too high. We should have actually implemented the Rwandan scheme before the election because Labour has now cancelled it…

“As a Conservative party we also believed in lower taxes and yet the tax burden got too high. I just think we need to be honest with ourselves and honest with the public that those mistakes were made.”

It is not just ambition which keeps him hooked on politics. He is convinced the country is in danger.

“What the current Government is doing now – increasing regulations, increasing taxes – is so heartbreaking because it’s putting burdens on business that mean jobs are being destroyed and businesses are closing down,” he says, arguing we are in a “moment of economic peril as a result of choices this Government has made”.

Chris claims Labour has “lost control of our borders” and he is concerned the continuing small boats crisis threatens the country’s security.

He warns that “having tens of thousands of people each year illegally entering the country without checks” could “pose national security risks [which] is why we have got to stop it completely.”

France, he argues, should play a greater role intercepting the boats and returning migrant passengers to shore.

He also fumes at the Government’s “totally inadequate” response to the grooming gangs scandal, claiming nothing less than a full national inquiry would be a “betrayal” of the victims.

“It’s a complete disgrace that they appear to be continuing to countenance a cover-up of some of these terrible events,” he says.

A key question he wants investigated is whether people in “positions in public authority” were negligent or worse.

“They certainly did ignore victims,” he says. “Did [they] actively cover this up for misplaced reasons of cultural or racial sensitivity?

“If any public officials did cover this up they should be investigated for the offence of misconduct in public office. These are the questions that a proper statutory national inquiry needs to get to the bottom of..

“Many victims have called for a proper national inquiry but the Labour Government has ignored those victims and it does constitute a betrayal.”

He is also dismayed by the Government’s plans to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands – home to the Diego Garcia military outpost – to Mauritius with arrangements to lease the US-UK base. President Trump has said he is “inclined” to back the deal but Chris hopes the US changes its stance.

“Trump is speaking from an American perspective,” he says. “They are not the ones who are having to pay for it.

“From a British perspective it’s a catastrophic waste of taxpayers’ money to pay Mauritius for something which is British already… I hope somebody in the American system sees sense and prevails upon Starmer to perform a u-turn on this but that looks less likely now than it did before.”

Warning of setting a precedent, he adds: “This is a shocking surrender of British sovereign territory. There is a risk it may have implications for the sovereign base on Cyprus; that has a very similar legal status and might now be at risk as a result of this and what this shows is Starmer is a weak prime minister.”

Meanwhile, the are locked in a battle with Reform UK for the support of Britain’s small-c .

“I think we deal with that by coming up with serious and credible proposals to deal with the challenges of our time such as ending illegal immigration and getting legal migration right down,” he says. “Look, often has good slogans but what he doesn’t have are the detailed thoughtful policies about how we’re going to actually get these problems sorted out in practice.”

He argues that in the wake of Labour’s summer landslide “people understand now” that by backing Mr Farage’s party they risk handing Labour victory, deploying the line that “a vote for Reform simply helps ”.

Comparing the worlds of business and politics, he says: “Sometimes you have to confront failure and show perseverance in the face of failure – which after last year’s election might be a quality needed more than ever.”

He relishes life on the political frontline and is confident exciting chapters of Tory history are waiting to be written.

“Of course the Conservative party does have a long history,” he says. “But I think it also has a bright future.”