Difference between revisions of "Philippa Stroud"
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− | {{Template: Revolving Door badge}} | + | {{Template: Revolving Door badge}}'''Philippa Claire Stroud''' (born 2 April 1965) was a special adviser to [[Iain Duncan Smith]] at the [[Department for Work and Pensions]] from May 2010 until<ref> [http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/statements/wms-special-advisers.aspx Written Ministerial Statement on Special Adviser numbers, costs and revised model contract and code of conduct] Cabinet Office, 11 June 2010, accessed 08.09.10</ref> <ref> MWW [http://www.mww.com/uk/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/UK-Government-Chart-JULY-2015-Final.pdf UK Government chart July 2015], accessed 8 July 2015.</ref> September 2015. |
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+ | Stroud was appointed to the [[House of Lords]] on 1 October 2015 as a [[Conservative Party]] peer, along with a host of other Tory special advisers. <ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-poised-to-give-peerages-to-string-of-tory-advisers-10446922.html Jane Merrick, Oliver Wright 'David Cameron poised to give peerages to string of Tory advisers'], ''The Independent'', 8 August 2015, accessed 4 November 2015</ref> | ||
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+ | In October 2015, Stroud resumed her role as Executive Director of the [[Centre for Social Justice]] which she founded with [[Iain Duncan Smith | Duncan Smith]], having left her role as special advisor to the [[Department for Work and Pensions]] a month prior. <ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stroud-philippa-special-adviser-department-for-work-and-pensions-acoba-recommendation/summary-of-business-appointments-applications-baroness-stroud 'Summary of business appointments applications Baroness Stroud']''Gov.UK'', 26 October 2015, accessed 4 November 2015</ref> | ||
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+ | Stroud now heads the [[Legatum Institute]], a think tank in Mayfair, London funded with £4m a year from secretive billionaire [[Christopher Chandler]]. <ref> Private Eye, [http://www.private-eye.co.uk/issue-1454/hp-sauce, HP Sauce: Legatum goes global], 6 October 2017 </ref>{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd_voRnhFyU|450|right|"[[Philippa Stroud]] Tory candidate and director of the Tory think tank the [[Centre for Social Justice]] on ''[[Newsnight]]'', 28 February 2008"}} | ||
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+ | ==Government adviser== | ||
+ | For her role as special adviser to Duncan Smith, Stroud was paid an annual salary of £94,000. <ref> [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/388825/spad_data_november_2014.csv/preview Special advisers in post, 30 November 2014] ''GOV.UK'', accessed 29 April 2015 </ref> | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
+ | Born in Devon in 1965, Stroud was raised in Surrey.<ref>UKPoliticalDatabase, [http://ukpolitics.telegraph.co.uk/Sutton+%26+Cheam/Philippa+Stroud Philippa Stroud]", ''The Telegraph'', accessed 21.09.10</ref> | ||
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+ | Stroud was a Christian from an early age: | ||
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+ | :five years old as a Christian, I knew about the gospel. About redemption and forgiveness – and I loved the bible. <ref name="book31">Philippa Stroud and [[Christine Leonard]] ''God's Heart for the Poor'', Eastbourne: [[Kingsway Publications]], 1999, p. 31</ref> | ||
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+ | Earlier in the book she claims that when she was at University ‘I’d been a Christian for a couple of years’. <ref name="book22">Philippa Stroud and [[Christine Leonard]] ''God's Heart for the Poor'', Eastbourne: [[Kingsway Publications]], 1999, p. 22</ref> Looking back Stroud sees ‘certain pointers’ that ‘care for the poor would take over my whole life’. <ref name="book25">Philippa Stroud and [[Christine Leonard]] ''God's Heart for the Poor'', Eastbourne: [[Kingsway Publications]], 1999, p. 25</ref> Friends bought her a subscription to ''National Geographic'' for her eighth birthday and ‘I remember lying across a massive Queen Anne armchair in our house in France, transfixed for a good couple of hours by photographs of famine victims in Bangladesh’. <ref name="book25"/> At this stage she refers to ‘our house in France’, though elsewhere she notes that her family lived in Surrey and other references suggest she was brought up in Surrey. <ref name="book26">Philippa Stroud and [[Christine Leonard]] ''God's Heart for the Poor'', Eastbourne: [[Kingsway Publications]], 1999, p. 26</ref> | ||
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+ | Her parents were ‘a greater influence’. They ‘believed in action too’. Her mother was a ‘sister in a cancer hospice’ and her father in ‘international banking’. <ref name="book26"/> | ||
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+ | She notes that her mother ‘offered to help’ in a ‘refugee camp’ near where they lived in Surrey which housed Ugandan Asians expelled by [[Idi Amin]]. Stroud says that ‘when I was about five or six I spent some of my holidays with her there in the big old Army barracks’. <ref name="book26"/> Given the Ugandan Asians were given ninety days to leave on the seventh of August 1972<ref>BBC, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/7/newsid_2492000/2492333.stm 1972: Asians given 90 days to leave Uganda], ‘On this Day, 7 August’, BBC Online, accessed 2 October 2010</ref> when Stroud was seven years and four months old, she was seven or perhaps eight at the time of those holidays. Similarly, she mentions that her family ‘adopted’ a Vietnamese family. ‘I remember’, she writes, ‘at the age of about twelve, helping to scrub out a house, then to collect furniture and move it in.’ <ref name="book26"/> Again, given that the Vietnamese refugees, the so called ‘boat people’, arrived in Britain from May 1979 onwards<ref>The first wave of refugees to arrive in the UK were those taken aboard a British military vessel in May 1979. As the ‘’Washington Post’’ reported at the time: ‘After several days' delay that dismayed some of her own Conservative supporters in Parliament and the press here, Thatcher decided last night to allow resettlement in Britain of 982 Vietnamese refugees rescued from the South China Sea by the British freighter Sibonga.’: Leonard Downie Jr. 'Boat People' Pose Risky Political Issue for Thatcher, ‘’The Washington Post’’ May 30, 1979, Wednesday, Final Edition, First Section; A16</ref> she must have been at least fourteen years old. | ||
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+ | Later she notes that she attended a ‘French University’ by which time she had been a Christian for ‘a couple of years’. <ref name="book22"/> Later she graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in languages. <ref>Sarah Richardson, "[http://elections.edelman.co.uk/2010/04/candidate-of-the-day-philippa-stroud-%E2%80%93-sutton-and-cheam/ CANDIDATE OF THE DAY – Philippa Stroud – Sutton and Cheam]", ''Edelman'', 01.04.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
− | Stroud | + | She used, she recalled ‘to work in the city in the holidays’ and ‘assumed I’d follow my father into a career in the financial world… but… banking didn’t fill me with passion’. By contrast, she noted of her time in Hong Kong: ‘nothing stopped my love of being in the Walled city. I loved it when rats ran across my feet in the dank darkness of sewer-like alleyways. I’d never felt this elation working in a bank.’ <ref name="book33">Philippa Stroud and [[Christine Leonard]] ''God's Heart for the Poor'', Eastbourne: [[Kingsway Publications]], 1999, p. 33</ref> She says of this period that she ‘adored living in London’. <ref name="book32">Philippa Stroud and [[Christine Leonard]] ''God's Heart for the Poor'', Eastbourne: [[Kingsway Publications]], 1999, p. 32</ref> |
− | == | + | ===University to Hong Kong=== |
+ | Stroud's biography at the [[Centre for Social Justice]] (now removed from their website but available in the Internet Archive) states that: 'Philippa Stroud has spent the last seventeen years in poverty-fighting projects and is author of a book on social injustice.' <ref name="CSJ">Centre for Social Justice, "[http://web.archive.org/web/20060619232602/www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/page/content/peopleStaff.asp?sID=5 People]", 2006, accessed 21.09.10</ref> It notes that Stroud undertook the following roles: | ||
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+ | *'In 1987-89 Philippa worked in Hong Kong and Macau amongst the addict community.'<ref name="CSJ"/> | ||
+ | *'From 1989-96 Philippa pioneered a four-stage residential support project enabling homeless people to move off the streets and to become contributing members of the community.'<ref name="CSJ"/> This appears to have been the Bedford based [[King's Arms Project]]. In her ghostwritten memoir it is noted that King's Arms 'is a Christian church in association with [[New Frontiers International]] and a member of the [[Evangelical Alliance]]'<ref name="book"/> | ||
+ | *'From 2001-2003 Philippa has been developing the [[Bridge Project]] in Birmingham to care for the homeless, addicts and those in debt situations.'<ref name="CSJ"/> | ||
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+ | Some of this period is covered in Stroud's ghost-written how-to memoir, ''God's Heart for the Poor'', which appears to be the book referred to as being on 'social injustice'. | ||
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+ | At 22 years old in 1987 Stroud flew to Hong Kong and spent time in Hong Kong and later in Macau working with drug addicts and others with various social problems. Stroud arrived in Hong Kong on the same day as her future husband David, in August 1987. After eight months – around March/April 1988 – Stroud says she was dispatched to Macau to get some kind of ‘holiday’. Stroud says that she was in Macau running a ‘drug withdrawal’ house for ‘eight months’ on pp. 33 of the book and on page 34 says that she was there for ‘ten months, split into thirty-day periods of continuous twenty-four-hour duty…After the thirty days I would take a four-day break in Hong Kong’ <ref name="book"/> | ||
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+ | ===Newfrontiers and King's Arms 1989-1996=== | ||
+ | Stroud returned to Britain on 18 February 1989 and within four days was working with the [[Newfrontiers]] organization and with [[David Devenish]] who had been a mentor to Stroud’s then fiancé and later husband [[David Stroud|David]]. <ref name="book">Philippa Stroud and [[Christine Leonard]] ''God's Heart for the Poor'', Eastbourne: [[Kingsway Publications]], 1999, p. 39</ref> | ||
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+ | Stroud notes that at that point she and her fiancé had ‘spent only seven and a half weeks together as a couple’. <ref name="book"/> | ||
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+ | Stroud established the [[King's Arms Project]] the same year.<ref>King's Arms Project, "[http://www.kingsarms.org/cm/images/stories/files_to_download/KAP_Annual_Report_2009.pdf KAP Annual Report 2009]", accessed 04.10.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In August 2006, Conservative MP [[Ed Vaizey]] volunteered at the Project as part of the "Inner City Challenge". Apparently blogging from his Blackberry, Vaizey writes: | ||
+ | ::the [[King's Arms Project]], to give it its full title, is a nightshelter, hostel and onward support scheme run by a local church. I'm here at the suggestion of the [[Centre for Social Justice]], to spend a week working, to try and gain a better understanding of the problems faced by the homeless, and by a charity working in this sector. | ||
+ | He described the staff as "all mainly young, in their early twenties, all are Christian but religion is not on display during the evening"; adding that "even the homeless think the country's gone to the dogs".<ref>Ed Vaizey, "[http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/ed_vaizey_mp/index.html Ed Vaizey MP]", ''Conservative Home'', accessed 06.10.10</ref> | ||
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+ | In 2009, the Project celebrated "20 years of seeing lives transform". Founder Stroud offered a message for this anniversary: "Keep a heart for the one and a vision for the thousands".<ref>King's Arms Project, "[http://www.kingsarms.org/cm/images/stories/files_to_download/KAP_Annual_Report_2009.pdf KAP Annual Report 2009]", accessed 04.10.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===The Bridge Project, Birmingham, 1998-=== | ||
+ | Both Philippa and David Stroud subsequently moved to Birmingham. According to the [[King's Arms Project]]: | ||
+ | ::During 1998, the King’s Arms Church was able to send out three teams to establish new churches. The founders of the King’s Arms, David and Philippa Stroud, led one team to South Birmingham to establish a similar work there.<ref>King's Arms Project, "[http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ScannedAccounts/Ends59%5C0001116359_ac_20071231_e_c.pdf 8 August 2006 - 31 December 2007]", ''Charity Commission'', p39, accessed 21.09.10</ref> | ||
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+ | [[Philippa Stroud]] notes that [[David Stroud]] 'was asked in 1996 to head up a church planting initiative in the Midlands and we moved there at the end of 1998'.<ref name="book"/> There Philippa worked on a similar project which is referred to as the [[Bridge Project]]. This is part of a wider initiative in Birmingham lead by [[David Stroud]], formally set up as an organisation on 13 September 2002 and registered as a charity on 20 December 2000 as the [[Oasis Church Trust Birmingham]] (Charity No 1084191).<ref>Charity Commission [http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/PrintReport.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1084191&ReportType=COLOUR Oasis Church Trust Birmingham], accessed 3 October 2010</ref> | ||
===Centre for Social Justice=== | ===Centre for Social Justice=== | ||
+ | [[Image:Philippa Stroud -Newsnight2008.png|thumb|right|400px|[[Philippa Stroud]] on [[Newsnight]] as Executive director of the [[Centre for Social Justice]]]] | ||
+ | In 2004, Stroud co-founded the [[Centre for Social Justice]] (CSJ) with Duncan Smith.<ref>The Centre for Social Justice, "[http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/default.asp?pageRef=44 About]", accessed 20.09.10</ref> The CSJ was incorporated with Companies House on the 25th May 2004 (Company No. 05137036).<ref>Companies House, "[http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/6eb1eedf011f96ed534ef25992128a8b/compdetails The Centre for Social Justice]", accessed 21.09.10</ref> [[Iain Duncan Smith]] described in a speech in December 2010 how Stroud came to direct the CSJ through his friend [[Tim Montgomerie]].<ref>Iain Duncan Smith, [http://www.ccfwebsite.com/Speech-IDS-12.10.shtml Christianity and Public Life], ''Conservative Christian Fellowship'', 1-December-2010</ref> | ||
− | Stroud | + | In September 2015, Stroud sought advice from [[ACOBA]] on accepting an appointment as Executive Director of the [[Centre for Social Justice]] (CSJ), which she founded in 2004 with [[Iain Duncan Smith]]. |
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+ | [[ACOBA]] recognised that Stroud had been a co-founder of the think-tank and served as Executive Director in her time with government, so she would simply be returning to her previous role. Stroud resumed the role in October 2015. <ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stroud-philippa-special-adviser-department-for-work-and-pensions-acoba-recommendation/summary-of-business-appointments-applications-baroness-stroud 'Summary of business appointments applications Baroness Stroud']''Gov.UK'', 26 October 2015, accessed 4 November 2015</ref> | ||
===Christian Action Research and Education=== | ===Christian Action Research and Education=== | ||
+ | [[Image:Screen_capture.jpg|right|thumb|800px|Philippa Stroud listed as 'head' of the ''CAREconfidential helpline'' in 2005]] | ||
+ | [[Christian Action Research and Education]] (CARE) is an evangelical organisation which promotes a homophobic and anti-abortionist conservative agenda. <ref> Martin Durham ‘[http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/54/3/459 The Conservative Party, New Labour and the politics of the family]’, ‘’Parliamentary Affairs’’, 54 (3): 459. (2001)</ref> In 2005, Stroud was listed as Head of the CAREconfidential helpline, responsible for "Pregnancy crisis, post-abortion counselling".<ref>CARE, "[http://web.archive.org/web/20050405175335/www.care.org.uk/media/whomtocontact.htm Whom to Contact]", 2005, accessed 20.09.10</ref> She has also previously worked as a Visiting Lecturer for CARE.<ref>Christian Action Research and Education, "[http://www.care.org.uk/Articles/190663/CARE/Get_Involved/Institute_for_Faith/Visiting_Lecturers.aspx Visiting Lecturers]", accessed 20.09.10</ref> | ||
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− | === | + | ===Conservative Activist and candidate=== |
+ | Stroud stood as a Conservative Party Parliamentary candidate for Birmingham Ladywood in 2005 and for Sutton and Cheam in 2010, but lost in both elections. She was expected to win the Sutton and Cheam seat from Liberal Democrat [[Paul Burstow]], but Burstow held on to win with a majority of 1,608 votes (despite a 1.5% swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Tories).<ref>Tom Phillips, "[http://www.metro.co.uk/news/election/825052-controversial-tory-philippa-stroud-loses-in-sutton-and-cheam Controversial Tory Philippa Stroud loses in Sutton and Cheam]", ''The Metro'', May 2010, accessed 17.09.10</ref> For her campaign in Sutton and Cheam, Stroud received a donation of £2,000 from the multi-millionaire self-labelled member of the "God squad" [[Michael Farmer]].<ref>Jamie Doward, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/02/secret-christian-donors-bankroll-tories Secret Christian donors bankroll Tories]", ''The Guardian'', 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | Stroud's decision to join the Conservatives was due to her "conviction that the values of personal responsibility and compassion sit best within the Conservative tradition".<ref>Sarah Richardson, "[http://elections.edelman.co.uk/2010/04/candidate-of-the-day-philippa-stroud-%E2%80%93-sutton-and-cheam/ CANDIDATE OF THE DAY – Philippa Stroud – Sutton and Cheam]", ''Edelman'', 01.04.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> In an interview in 2009, she was asked about the importance of Christians being involved in politics. Stroud responded: | ||
+ | ::It is massively important because we have a unique understanding of the value of human beings and we know just how important every single person, regardless of background or of what they can contribute to society. We, possibly more than anybody else, have a responsibility to speak up for the vulnerable. It is an idea that is often referred to in politics but not often understood. Christians, I believe, uniquely carry that vision and that is why we must be involved.<ref>Paul Brennan, "[http://www.e-n.org.uk/p-4514-Faith-in-action.htm Interview with Philippa Stroud]", ''Evangelicals Now'', February 2009, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | ==Views and beliefs== | ||
+ | ===On Social justice and inequality=== | ||
+ | Stroud believes that one of the causes of increasing inequality is the welfare state as opposed to the deliberate policy decisions of Conservative and Labour governments which favour the rich. She cites ''Mind the Gap'' by [[Ferdinand Mount]], the former head of Mrs Thatcher's policy unit, as a book which 'challenged my thinking on poverty. He asks why the gap between rich and poor in Britain is growing. One of his answers is that the welfare state has crushed the help that was traditionally provided by family and the voluntary sector.'<ref>Tom de Castella, [http://www.regen.net/news/558620/Work+Experience+-+Philippa+Stroud+director+Centre+SocialJustice/ Work Experience - Philippa Stroud, director, Centre for Social Justice] ''Regeneration & Renewal'', 12 May 2006, accessed 3 October 2010</ref> | ||
− | === | + | ==="Joyful female submission"=== |
− | Philippa Stroud is married to [[David Stroud]], a leader in the [[Newfrontiers Church]].<ref>Staff writers, "[http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12061 Philippa Stroud's husband signs controversial Christian election declaration]", ''Ekklesia'', accessed 17.09.10</ref> He is a signatory to the [[Westminster Declaration]]<ref>"[http://www.westminster2010.org.uk/declaration/ Westminster Declaration]", ''Westminster2010'', accessed 17.09.10</ref>, a statement backed by "socially conservative" Christians which has been criticised by other Christian organisations, such as the think-tank [[Ekklesia]], the [[Christian Socialist Movement]], the [[Conservative Christian Fellowship]] and the [[Liberal Democrat Christian Forum]]. The Declaration promotes "a particular interpretation of marriage", while also addressing issues such as abortion, euthanasia and the freedoms of Christians.<ref>Staff writers, "[http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12014 Westminster Declaration attacked by Christian political groups]", ''Ekklesia'', accessed 17.09.10</ref> | + | Philippa Stroud is married to [[David Stroud]], a leader in the [[Newfrontiers Church]].<ref>Staff writers, "[http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12061 Philippa Stroud's husband signs controversial Christian election declaration]", ''Ekklesia'', 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> He is a signatory to the [[Westminster Declaration]]<ref>"[http://www.westminster2010.org.uk/declaration/ Westminster Declaration]", ''Westminster2010'', accessed 17.09.10</ref>, a statement backed by "socially conservative" Christians which has been criticised by other Christian organisations, such as the think-tank [[Ekklesia]], the [[Christian Socialist Movement]], the [[Conservative Christian Fellowship]] and the [[Liberal Democrat Christian Forum]]. The Declaration promotes "a particular interpretation of marriage", while also addressing issues such as abortion, euthanasia and the freedoms of Christians.<ref>Staff writers, "[http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12014 Westminster Declaration attacked by Christian political groups]", ''Ekklesia'', 29.04.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> |
Philippa Stroud also attends the Newfrontiers Church. Number 7 of the Church's Vision and Values affirms that: | Philippa Stroud also attends the Newfrontiers Church. Number 7 of the Church's Vision and Values affirms that: | ||
Line 29: | Line 89: | ||
Jonathan Bartley, co-director of [[Ekklesia]], asks: | Jonathan Bartley, co-director of [[Ekklesia]], asks: | ||
− | ::Who would voters be electing in Sutton and Cheam - Philippa Stroud or her husband? The question must be asked whether, in the event she was elected to Parliament, she would on any occasion ‘submit’ to her husband's will and vote in a way that he thought was right, even if it contradicted her own position, the promises she had made to voters, or the manifesto on which she was elected?<ref>Staff writers, "[http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12061 Philippa Stroud's husband signs controversial Christian election declaration]", ''Ekklesia'', accessed 17.09.10</ref> | + | ::Who would voters be electing in Sutton and Cheam - Philippa Stroud or her husband? The question must be asked whether, in the event she was elected to Parliament, she would on any occasion ‘submit’ to her husband's will and vote in a way that he thought was right, even if it contradicted her own position, the promises she had made to voters, or the manifesto on which she was elected?<ref>Staff writers, "[http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12061 Philippa Stroud's husband signs controversial Christian election declaration]", ''Ekklesia'', 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> |
+ | |||
+ | ===Views on abortion=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Stroud authored a short comment piece for the newsletter of the [[Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child]] (SPUC) (now removed from their website but available in the Internet Archive<ref>Philippa Stroud, "[http://web.archive.org/web/20061014100819/http://www.spuc.org.uk/pro-life-times/2001/march March 2001]", ''Pro-Life Times'', March 2001, accessed 17.09.10</ref>) in which she writes on the "hope for change", comparing the anti-abortionist movement to that of Nelson Mandela fighting apartheid. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Accusations of homophobia=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | In May 2010, ''The Observer'' published an article with the standfirst: "Conservative high-flyer Philippa Stroud founded a church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals by driving out their 'demons'".<ref>Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people]", ''The Observer'', 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> In 1989, Stroud founded the [[King's Arms Project]], a church and shelter in Bedford. The authors quoted several individuals who claimed to have been subjected to "treatment" at the Project: | ||
+ | ::Abi, a teenage girl with transsexual issues, was sent to the church by her parents, who were evangelical Christians. "Convinced I was demonically possessed, my parents made the decision to move to Bedford, because of this woman [Stroud] who had come back from Hong Kong and had the power to set me free," Abi told the Observer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::"She wanted me to know all my thinking was wrong, I was wrong and the so-called demons inside me were wrong. The session ended with her and others praying over me, calling out the demons. She really believed things like homosexuality, transsexualism and addiction could be fixed just by prayer, all in the name of Jesus. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::"T" said he moved to Bedford because he believed the church could help him stop having homosexual thoughts. "I was trying to convince myself that a change was possible but, at the same time, a part of me didn't believe it was possible," he said. "The church's approach was not that it was sinful to be homosexual but that it was sinful to act on it. The aim is to get a person to a position where they don't have these sinful emotions and thoughts." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::"T" said it was only after he "took a break" from the church that his depression lifted. "It was the church's attitude towards my sexuality that was the issue," he recalled. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::"My impression is that she genuinely cares about people," he said of Stroud. "Her personal beliefs may get in the way sometimes, but she is a positive person." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Also quoted was Angela Paterson, an administrator at the Bedford church, who said: "With hindsight, the thing that freaks me out was everybody praying that a demon would be cast out of me because I was gay. Anything – drugs, alcohol or homosexuality, they thought you had a demon in you."<ref>Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people]", ''The Observer'', 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Stroud's response==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ''The Observer'' subsequently received a complaint from Stroud, summarised by the newspaper as follows: | ||
+ | ::Since publication, we have received a legal complaint from Philippa Stroud. She disputes the testimonies contained in the article and states that she has helped individuals of all sexual orientations to deal with a multitude of problems such as drug addiction, self-harming, alcoholism, eating disorders, and sexual abuse through prayer as well as offering practical help and advice. She also says that she has never founded a church, let alone a church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals. She has never prayed or advised any person to change his or her sexuality and has never countenanced any person for whom she has had responsibility attempting to question any person's sexual orientation or to re-orient them. In addition, the reference to demonic activity in her book "God's help for the poor' does not relate to sexual orientation but to those who have been involved in occult practices, including violence and sexual abuse. She adds that the New Frontiers Church network is based in the UK and has over 600 branches worldwide of which 220 are in the UK and no more than 30 are in the USA. It is not part of the US Evangelical Movement.<ref>Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people]", ''The Observer'', 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, although Stroud claims never to have founded a church, in their 2007 report<ref>King's Arms Project, "[http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ScannedAccounts/Ends59%5C0001116359_ac_20071231_e_c.pdf 8 August 2006 - 31 December 2007]", ''Charity Commission'', p39, accessed 21.09.10</ref> submitted to the Charity Commission, the King's Arms Project states that: | ||
+ | ::During 1998, the King’s Arms Church was able to send out three teams to establish new churches. The founders of the King’s Arms, David and Philippa Stroud, led one team to South Birmingham to establish a similar work there. | ||
+ | Similarly, the 2009 report<ref>King's Arms Project, "[http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ScannedAccounts/Ends59%5C0001116359_ac_20091231_e_c.pdf 1 January 2009 - 31 December2009]", ''Charity Commission'', p35, 2009, accessed 21.09.10</ref> notes that: | ||
+ | ::Throughout its history the King’s Arms has been caring for poor and disadvantaged people in Bedfordshire. The King’s Arms Project commenced work among Bedford’s street-homeless in 1989 when a Residential House located in Clarendon Street, Bedford was established. The Project has developed with additional houses and elements; all of which have been set up to cater for the needs of poor and disadvantaged people. Five new churches have been established in the UK, Africa and the USA by members of the King’s Arms Church: | ||
+ | ::*David and Philippa Stroud, the founders of the King’s Arms led a team to South Birmingham in 1998. | ||
+ | ::*Martin and Louise White led a team to North Birmingham in 1998. | ||
+ | ::*Matt and Philippa Hatch led a team to Leeds in 2002. | ||
+ | ::*Drew and Megan Land went to Durban, South Africa in 2003. | ||
+ | ::*Euan and Sarah Crane went to North Carolina in 2007. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In her statement, Stroud said: | ||
+ | ::I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that The Observer has suggested otherwise... The idea that I am prejudiced against gay people is both false and insulting. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the online magazine PinkNews.co.uk emphasised to Stroud's spokesperson that The Observer's prime claim was not that she believed homosexuality to be an illness, but rather that it seemed she believed homosexuality could be overcome through prayer and the removal of "demons", a spokeperson responded that: "We will not be adding to or subtracting to [sic] the statement."<ref>Staff writer, "[http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/05/02/tory-candidate-and-david-cameron-family-advisor-ran-church-that-cured-homosexuality-through-prayer-and-clearing-demons/ Tory candidate and Cameron advisor ran church that "cured" homosexuality through prayer]", ''Pink News'', 02.05.05, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ''Pink News'' journalist Jessica Green reports that John Rubinstein, of law firm [[Rubinstein Phillips]], is representing Stroud. The firm contacted a number of media outlets following the accusations to remind them of their responsibilities under Section 106 of the Representation of the Peoples' Act, which states that it is illegal to publish a false statement of fact relating to character or conduct, unless it can be demonstrated that there were reasonable grounds to believe the statement to be true. While Stroud's response asserted that she was not homophobic, nor believed homosexuality to be an illness, John Rubinstein declined to comment on whether Stroud believes that homosexuality is caused by demonic possession, or that she was part of an organisation which followed this doctrine.<ref>Jessia Green, "[http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/05/05/exclusive-philippa-strouds-lawyers-warn-media-over-gay-cure-claims/ Exclusive: Philippa Stroud's lawyers warn media over 'gay cure' claims]", ''Pink News'', 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Conservative leader and Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] defended Stroud, stating on the BBC's Asian Network that "She believes in gay equality" and has made "a very clear statement to say she was completely misreported".<ref>Jessia Green, "[http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/05/05/exclusive-philippa-strouds-lawyers-warn-media-over-gay-cure-claims/ Exclusive: Philippa Stroud's lawyers warn media over 'gay cure' claims]", ''Pink News'', 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | A dedicated Facebook group set up by Lib Dem councillor for Onslow, Chris Ward, with over 5100 members, called upon David Cameron to sack Stroud. | ||
+ | : 'First the B&B incident, then the Julian Lewis incident, now it emerges one of his candidates likes to pray the gay away. Cameron made a big noise about how he deselected a homophobic Tory candidate "within minutes" (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/04/28/cameron-took-action-on-homophobic-candidate-within-minutes/). Any sort of conversion therapy can cause serious damage to LGBT people who believe their sexuality is a mental affliction. If Cameron cares even the slightest about the LGBT community as he says he does, he must sack Philippa Stroud.' <ref> [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113695921999539 If Cameron cares an ounce about LGBT people, he'll sack Philippa Stroud], accessed 29 September 2010. </ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===="What Jesus said about... Expelling demons"==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | A document by Stroud's [[King's Arms Project]] titled "What Jesus said about... Expelling demons" is available on their website. It features the following: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::Recognise demonic symptoms (Mark 9:16-18) | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::Mark 9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::(all of these symptoms can have other causes) | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::Minor symptoms: | ||
+ | ::Sin that we ‘can’t seem to break’ | ||
+ | ::Repeated thoughts of fear/shame/anger/hatred/self pity/death/jealousy/adultery/….endless list! | ||
+ | ::Thoughts - ‘lies like flies’ that speaking out God’s word (renewing the mind) doesn’t shift | ||
+ | ::Major Symptoms: | ||
+ | ::Black outs, violent rages, self-harm, suicide attempts | ||
+ | ::Life controlling addictions (stealing, drugs, alcohol, sex, porn, gambling) | ||
+ | ::Religious error and confusion | ||
+ | ::Mental instability (can also be chemical/emotional) | ||
+ | ::Never tell someone they have a demon. Offer to pray and see what happens ‘Father I ask for freedom now from any spiritual oppression’ | ||
+ | |||
+ | It continues: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ::The 5 R’s – a framework for freedom from spiritual oppression | ||
+ | ::• RECOGNISE – the central issue. For example Fear, Rejection etc. | ||
+ | ::• REPENT & FORGIVE – anything you have done, anything done to you. | ||
+ | ::• RENOUNCE – living under this thing any more. It’s renouncing this lifestyle. | ||
+ | ::• REJECT – the demonic oppression. Command as Jesus did ‘leave in Jesus name’. | ||
+ | ::• REPLACE – ask God to fill with his love, his peace and whatever is opposite to the thing that’s gone (e.g. replace fear with faith, | ||
+ | ::rejection with acceptance). Claim the truth of God’s word.<ref>King's Arms, "[http://www.kingsarms.org/documents/wjsa_expelling_demons_notes.pdf What Jesus said about... Expelling demons]", accessed 04.10.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====Further testimony about the casting out of "demons" and the "curing" of homosexuality==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another man commenting as 'QuickFix' on ''The Guardian'' blog - of whom journalist Andrew Brown wrote "I am satisfied both that he exists and was a member of Philippa Stroud's church in Bedford" - explained that Stroud's church in Bedford was not conventionally right-wing. The issue of homosexuality was subject to disbelief and confusion rather than overt hostility. Social action was a central feature of the church's work. As 'QuickFix' explains: | ||
+ | ::Right from the beginning one of the church's main principles was helping the poor … The majority of people in their church whose political views were on view, were much more Labour inclined than Conservative. I personally was quite surprised when I heard that Philippa was with the Conservative party. | ||
+ | [[Image:Stroud_book.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Front cover of ''God's Heart for the Poor'' by [[Philippa Stroud]] and [[Christine Leonard]], published in 1999]] | ||
+ | According to 'QuickFix', the existence of demons was a given within the church: | ||
+ | ::Demons could lead to anything -- anger, or jealousy, as well as the kind of specific flaw – it was often not just that you had a demon matched to a specific transgression, but that you had demons generally. Often it was very matter of fact. The belief that a demon was present would come out of a prayer session. There might be manifestations -- violent shaking, screaming, lying on the floor. Sometimes there were none. I once saw Philippa cast out a demon in French: that stuck in my mind, I was really impressed that she was fluent enough to talk to a demon in French. There were solid Christians who would talk about themselves as having had a prayer session in which they got rid of the demon in themselves, though that would happen more within small groups or the team on the homeless project than with the whole church.<ref>Andrew Brown, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2010/may/07/religion-stroud-exorcism-demons Philippa Stroud: more testimony]", 07.05.10, ''The Guardian'', accessed 28.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'QuickFix' was a member of the [[King's Arms]] in the 1990s and although has "no knowledge" of Stroud's current views, "it is categorically the case that homosexuality in that church was regarded as a sin, the inclination to which could be cured through prayer and counselling". Although he did not experience exorcism, 'QuickFix', a gay man, was subjected to the church's "attempts to heal" him, although "the church as a whole was pretty big on demons as the source of many an ill". He "personally witnessed Philippa casting them out of people". 'QuickFix' perceives Stroud not as "an evil bigot, but someone who has quite a positive record of helping her community, finely balanced with monumental delusion".<ref>Andrew Brown, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2010/may/05/religion-philippastroud-exorcism-bedford?showallcomments=true#comment-5011064 QuickFix]", ''The Guardian'', 05.05.10, accessed 28.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===''God's Heart for the Poor''=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The article in ''The Observer'' asserted that "Stroud wrote a book, ''God's Heart for the Poor'', in which she explains how to deal with people showing signs of "demonic activity"".<ref>Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people]", ''The Observer'', 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10</ref> Although Stroud is credited as co-author of 'God's Heart for the Poor' (1999) by online bookshops,<ref>Amazon.co.uk, "[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gods-Heart-Poor-Philippa-Stroud/dp/0854768254 God's Heart for the Poor]", accessed 17.09.10</ref> the other listed author, Christine Leonard, describes the book as a "ghosted biography/how to for Philippa Stroud".<ref>Christine Leonard, "[http://photoscribe.co.uk/Chris/html/books.html Chris' books and other writings]", accessed 17.09.10</ref> The article Stroud contributed to ''Pro-Life Times'' in 2001 describes Stroud as "co-author of ''God's Heart for the Poor''".<ref>Philippa Stroud, "[http://web.archive.org/web/20061014100819/http://www.spuc.org.uk/pro-life-times/2001/march March 2001]", ''Pro-Life Times'', March 2001, accessed 17.09.10</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Appointments== | ||
+ | The table below is compiled from records held at [[Companies House]] and the [[Charity Commission]]. | ||
− | ===" | + | <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" border="1" align="center" width="100%"><tr><th bgcolor="goldenrod"> Name of Company </th><th bgcolor="goldenrod"> Charity/Company Number </th><th bgcolor="goldenrod"> Position Held </th><th bgcolor="goldenrod"> Appointed </th><th bgcolor="goldenrod"> Appointment Ends </th><th bgcolor="goldenrod"> Outcome </th></tr> |
+ | <tr><td align="center">[[King's Arms Trust]] </td><td align="center">1044098 </td><td align="center">? </td><td align="center">? </td><td align="center"> ? </td><td align="center">Created 1 January 1995; Ceased to exist 22 January 2008<ref>Charity Commission [http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/SHOWCHARITY/RegisterOfCharities/RemovedCharityMain.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1044098&SubsidiaryNumber=0 | ||
+ | 1044098 - THE KING'S ARMS TRUST], accessed 2 October 2010</ref></td></tr> | ||
+ | <tr><td align="center">[[Centre for Social Justice]] </td><td align="center">5137036 </td><td align="center">Secretary </td><td align="center">16/06/2004 </td><td align="center">25/01/2005 </td><td align="center">Think Tank still active</td></tr> | ||
+ | <tr><td align="center">[[Catalyst Urban Trust]] </td><td align="center">Company No. 5835408/Charity 1117251 </td><td align="center">Charity Executive Director </td><td align="center">02/06/2006 </td><td align="center">20/01/2007 </td><td align="center">Active</td></tr> | ||
+ | <tr><td align="center">[[Social Finance Limited]] </td><td align="center">6402143 </td><td align="center">Director </td><td align="center">01/11/2009 </td><td align="center">Active at October 2010 </td><td align="center">Active</td></tr> | ||
+ | <tr><td align="center">[[Centre for Social Justice Consultancy Limited]] </td><td align="center">6839220 </td><td align="center">Director </td><td align="center">06/03/2009 </td><td align="center">Active as at October 2010 </td><td align="center">Active</td></tr> </table> | ||
− | == | + | ==Publications, Contact, Resources, Notes== |
+ | ===Publications=== | ||
+ | *Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gods-Heart-Poor-Philippa-Stroud/dp/0854768254 God's Heart for the Poor], Kingsway Publications, 1999. | ||
+ | *Philippa Stroud, 'Breaking Britain: How to address the causes of knife and gun crime' in [[Social Market Foundation]] report [http://www.smf.co.uk/assets/files/SMF_The_New_Blue.pdf The New Blue: Conservative candidates on new UK party challenges], launched at the Conservative party conference, September 2008. | ||
− | + | ===Contact=== | |
+ | :Website (now deleted but 2008 archive available here): [http://web.archive.org/web/20080430093711/http://www.philippastroud.com/ http://www.philippastroud.com/] | ||
+ | :Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philippastroud/ | ||
− | == | + | ===External resources=== |
− | |||
*Jamie Doward, Cal Flynn and Richard Rogers, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people], The Observer, 2 May 2010. | *Jamie Doward, Cal Flynn and Richard Rogers, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people], The Observer, 2 May 2010. | ||
+ | *The King's Arms, [http://www.kingsarms.org/cm/content/view/153/87/ '15 healed on the streets of Bedford!'], audio testimony of "physical healings" carried out by The [[King's Arms Project]] | ||
+ | *Juliette Jowitt, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/05/iain-duncan-smith-adviser-lobbying?CMP=twt_gu Iain Duncan Smith adviser being paid by thinktank lobbying his department], ''The Guardian'', 5 November 2012 20.08 GMT | ||
===Notes=== | ===Notes=== |
Latest revision as of 13:38, 13 October 2017
![]() |
This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch. |
Philippa Claire Stroud (born 2 April 1965) was a special adviser to Iain Duncan Smith at the Department for Work and Pensions from May 2010 until[1] [2] September 2015.
Stroud was appointed to the House of Lords on 1 October 2015 as a Conservative Party peer, along with a host of other Tory special advisers. [3]
In October 2015, Stroud resumed her role as Executive Director of the Centre for Social Justice which she founded with Duncan Smith, having left her role as special advisor to the Department for Work and Pensions a month prior. [4]
Stroud now heads the Legatum Institute, a think tank in Mayfair, London funded with £4m a year from secretive billionaire Christopher Chandler. [5]{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd_voRnhFyU%7C450%7Cright%7C"Philippa Stroud Tory candidate and director of the Tory think tank the Centre for Social Justice on Newsnight, 28 February 2008"}}
Contents
Government adviser
For her role as special adviser to Duncan Smith, Stroud was paid an annual salary of £94,000. [6]
Background
Born in Devon in 1965, Stroud was raised in Surrey.[7]
Stroud was a Christian from an early age:
- five years old as a Christian, I knew about the gospel. About redemption and forgiveness – and I loved the bible. [8]
Earlier in the book she claims that when she was at University ‘I’d been a Christian for a couple of years’. [9] Looking back Stroud sees ‘certain pointers’ that ‘care for the poor would take over my whole life’. [10] Friends bought her a subscription to National Geographic for her eighth birthday and ‘I remember lying across a massive Queen Anne armchair in our house in France, transfixed for a good couple of hours by photographs of famine victims in Bangladesh’. [10] At this stage she refers to ‘our house in France’, though elsewhere she notes that her family lived in Surrey and other references suggest she was brought up in Surrey. [11]
Her parents were ‘a greater influence’. They ‘believed in action too’. Her mother was a ‘sister in a cancer hospice’ and her father in ‘international banking’. [11]
She notes that her mother ‘offered to help’ in a ‘refugee camp’ near where they lived in Surrey which housed Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin. Stroud says that ‘when I was about five or six I spent some of my holidays with her there in the big old Army barracks’. [11] Given the Ugandan Asians were given ninety days to leave on the seventh of August 1972[12] when Stroud was seven years and four months old, she was seven or perhaps eight at the time of those holidays. Similarly, she mentions that her family ‘adopted’ a Vietnamese family. ‘I remember’, she writes, ‘at the age of about twelve, helping to scrub out a house, then to collect furniture and move it in.’ [11] Again, given that the Vietnamese refugees, the so called ‘boat people’, arrived in Britain from May 1979 onwards[13] she must have been at least fourteen years old.
Later she notes that she attended a ‘French University’ by which time she had been a Christian for ‘a couple of years’. [9] Later she graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in languages. [14]
She used, she recalled ‘to work in the city in the holidays’ and ‘assumed I’d follow my father into a career in the financial world… but… banking didn’t fill me with passion’. By contrast, she noted of her time in Hong Kong: ‘nothing stopped my love of being in the Walled city. I loved it when rats ran across my feet in the dank darkness of sewer-like alleyways. I’d never felt this elation working in a bank.’ [15] She says of this period that she ‘adored living in London’. [16]
University to Hong Kong
Stroud's biography at the Centre for Social Justice (now removed from their website but available in the Internet Archive) states that: 'Philippa Stroud has spent the last seventeen years in poverty-fighting projects and is author of a book on social injustice.' [17] It notes that Stroud undertook the following roles:
- 'In 1987-89 Philippa worked in Hong Kong and Macau amongst the addict community.'[17]
- 'From 1989-96 Philippa pioneered a four-stage residential support project enabling homeless people to move off the streets and to become contributing members of the community.'[17] This appears to have been the Bedford based King's Arms Project. In her ghostwritten memoir it is noted that King's Arms 'is a Christian church in association with New Frontiers International and a member of the Evangelical Alliance'[18]
- 'From 2001-2003 Philippa has been developing the Bridge Project in Birmingham to care for the homeless, addicts and those in debt situations.'[17]
Some of this period is covered in Stroud's ghost-written how-to memoir, God's Heart for the Poor, which appears to be the book referred to as being on 'social injustice'.
At 22 years old in 1987 Stroud flew to Hong Kong and spent time in Hong Kong and later in Macau working with drug addicts and others with various social problems. Stroud arrived in Hong Kong on the same day as her future husband David, in August 1987. After eight months – around March/April 1988 – Stroud says she was dispatched to Macau to get some kind of ‘holiday’. Stroud says that she was in Macau running a ‘drug withdrawal’ house for ‘eight months’ on pp. 33 of the book and on page 34 says that she was there for ‘ten months, split into thirty-day periods of continuous twenty-four-hour duty…After the thirty days I would take a four-day break in Hong Kong’ [18]
Newfrontiers and King's Arms 1989-1996
Stroud returned to Britain on 18 February 1989 and within four days was working with the Newfrontiers organization and with David Devenish who had been a mentor to Stroud’s then fiancé and later husband David. [18]
Stroud notes that at that point she and her fiancé had ‘spent only seven and a half weeks together as a couple’. [18]
Stroud established the King's Arms Project the same year.[19]
In August 2006, Conservative MP Ed Vaizey volunteered at the Project as part of the "Inner City Challenge". Apparently blogging from his Blackberry, Vaizey writes:
- the King's Arms Project, to give it its full title, is a nightshelter, hostel and onward support scheme run by a local church. I'm here at the suggestion of the Centre for Social Justice, to spend a week working, to try and gain a better understanding of the problems faced by the homeless, and by a charity working in this sector.
He described the staff as "all mainly young, in their early twenties, all are Christian but religion is not on display during the evening"; adding that "even the homeless think the country's gone to the dogs".[20]
In 2009, the Project celebrated "20 years of seeing lives transform". Founder Stroud offered a message for this anniversary: "Keep a heart for the one and a vision for the thousands".[21]
The Bridge Project, Birmingham, 1998-
Both Philippa and David Stroud subsequently moved to Birmingham. According to the King's Arms Project:
- During 1998, the King’s Arms Church was able to send out three teams to establish new churches. The founders of the King’s Arms, David and Philippa Stroud, led one team to South Birmingham to establish a similar work there.[22]
Philippa Stroud notes that David Stroud 'was asked in 1996 to head up a church planting initiative in the Midlands and we moved there at the end of 1998'.[18] There Philippa worked on a similar project which is referred to as the Bridge Project. This is part of a wider initiative in Birmingham lead by David Stroud, formally set up as an organisation on 13 September 2002 and registered as a charity on 20 December 2000 as the Oasis Church Trust Birmingham (Charity No 1084191).[23]
Centre for Social Justice
In 2004, Stroud co-founded the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) with Duncan Smith.[24] The CSJ was incorporated with Companies House on the 25th May 2004 (Company No. 05137036).[25] Iain Duncan Smith described in a speech in December 2010 how Stroud came to direct the CSJ through his friend Tim Montgomerie.[26]
In September 2015, Stroud sought advice from ACOBA on accepting an appointment as Executive Director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which she founded in 2004 with Iain Duncan Smith.
ACOBA recognised that Stroud had been a co-founder of the think-tank and served as Executive Director in her time with government, so she would simply be returning to her previous role. Stroud resumed the role in October 2015. [27]
Christian Action Research and Education
Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) is an evangelical organisation which promotes a homophobic and anti-abortionist conservative agenda. [28] In 2005, Stroud was listed as Head of the CAREconfidential helpline, responsible for "Pregnancy crisis, post-abortion counselling".[29] She has also previously worked as a Visiting Lecturer for CARE.[30]
Conservative Activist and candidate
Stroud stood as a Conservative Party Parliamentary candidate for Birmingham Ladywood in 2005 and for Sutton and Cheam in 2010, but lost in both elections. She was expected to win the Sutton and Cheam seat from Liberal Democrat Paul Burstow, but Burstow held on to win with a majority of 1,608 votes (despite a 1.5% swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Tories).[31] For her campaign in Sutton and Cheam, Stroud received a donation of £2,000 from the multi-millionaire self-labelled member of the "God squad" Michael Farmer.[32]
Stroud's decision to join the Conservatives was due to her "conviction that the values of personal responsibility and compassion sit best within the Conservative tradition".[33] In an interview in 2009, she was asked about the importance of Christians being involved in politics. Stroud responded:
- It is massively important because we have a unique understanding of the value of human beings and we know just how important every single person, regardless of background or of what they can contribute to society. We, possibly more than anybody else, have a responsibility to speak up for the vulnerable. It is an idea that is often referred to in politics but not often understood. Christians, I believe, uniquely carry that vision and that is why we must be involved.[34]
Views and beliefs
On Social justice and inequality
Stroud believes that one of the causes of increasing inequality is the welfare state as opposed to the deliberate policy decisions of Conservative and Labour governments which favour the rich. She cites Mind the Gap by Ferdinand Mount, the former head of Mrs Thatcher's policy unit, as a book which 'challenged my thinking on poverty. He asks why the gap between rich and poor in Britain is growing. One of his answers is that the welfare state has crushed the help that was traditionally provided by family and the voluntary sector.'[35]
"Joyful female submission"
Philippa Stroud is married to David Stroud, a leader in the Newfrontiers Church.[36] He is a signatory to the Westminster Declaration[37], a statement backed by "socially conservative" Christians which has been criticised by other Christian organisations, such as the think-tank Ekklesia, the Christian Socialist Movement, the Conservative Christian Fellowship and the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum. The Declaration promotes "a particular interpretation of marriage", while also addressing issues such as abortion, euthanasia and the freedoms of Christians.[38]
Philippa Stroud also attends the Newfrontiers Church. Number 7 of the Church's Vision and Values affirms that:
- A Church where Biblical family life is highly valued, where husband and wife embrace male servant leadership and joyful female submission, where godly parenting is taught and practised, and where the special value of singleness and its unique opportunities are affirmed.[39]
Jonathan Bartley, co-director of Ekklesia, asks:
- Who would voters be electing in Sutton and Cheam - Philippa Stroud or her husband? The question must be asked whether, in the event she was elected to Parliament, she would on any occasion ‘submit’ to her husband's will and vote in a way that he thought was right, even if it contradicted her own position, the promises she had made to voters, or the manifesto on which she was elected?[40]
Views on abortion
Stroud authored a short comment piece for the newsletter of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) (now removed from their website but available in the Internet Archive[41]) in which she writes on the "hope for change", comparing the anti-abortionist movement to that of Nelson Mandela fighting apartheid.
Accusations of homophobia
In May 2010, The Observer published an article with the standfirst: "Conservative high-flyer Philippa Stroud founded a church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals by driving out their 'demons'".[42] In 1989, Stroud founded the King's Arms Project, a church and shelter in Bedford. The authors quoted several individuals who claimed to have been subjected to "treatment" at the Project:
- Abi, a teenage girl with transsexual issues, was sent to the church by her parents, who were evangelical Christians. "Convinced I was demonically possessed, my parents made the decision to move to Bedford, because of this woman [Stroud] who had come back from Hong Kong and had the power to set me free," Abi told the Observer.
- "She wanted me to know all my thinking was wrong, I was wrong and the so-called demons inside me were wrong. The session ended with her and others praying over me, calling out the demons. She really believed things like homosexuality, transsexualism and addiction could be fixed just by prayer, all in the name of Jesus.
- "T" said he moved to Bedford because he believed the church could help him stop having homosexual thoughts. "I was trying to convince myself that a change was possible but, at the same time, a part of me didn't believe it was possible," he said. "The church's approach was not that it was sinful to be homosexual but that it was sinful to act on it. The aim is to get a person to a position where they don't have these sinful emotions and thoughts."
- "T" said it was only after he "took a break" from the church that his depression lifted. "It was the church's attitude towards my sexuality that was the issue," he recalled.
- "My impression is that she genuinely cares about people," he said of Stroud. "Her personal beliefs may get in the way sometimes, but she is a positive person."
Also quoted was Angela Paterson, an administrator at the Bedford church, who said: "With hindsight, the thing that freaks me out was everybody praying that a demon would be cast out of me because I was gay. Anything – drugs, alcohol or homosexuality, they thought you had a demon in you."[43]
Stroud's response
The Observer subsequently received a complaint from Stroud, summarised by the newspaper as follows:
- Since publication, we have received a legal complaint from Philippa Stroud. She disputes the testimonies contained in the article and states that she has helped individuals of all sexual orientations to deal with a multitude of problems such as drug addiction, self-harming, alcoholism, eating disorders, and sexual abuse through prayer as well as offering practical help and advice. She also says that she has never founded a church, let alone a church that tried to 'cure' homosexuals. She has never prayed or advised any person to change his or her sexuality and has never countenanced any person for whom she has had responsibility attempting to question any person's sexual orientation or to re-orient them. In addition, the reference to demonic activity in her book "God's help for the poor' does not relate to sexual orientation but to those who have been involved in occult practices, including violence and sexual abuse. She adds that the New Frontiers Church network is based in the UK and has over 600 branches worldwide of which 220 are in the UK and no more than 30 are in the USA. It is not part of the US Evangelical Movement.[44]
However, although Stroud claims never to have founded a church, in their 2007 report[45] submitted to the Charity Commission, the King's Arms Project states that:
- During 1998, the King’s Arms Church was able to send out three teams to establish new churches. The founders of the King’s Arms, David and Philippa Stroud, led one team to South Birmingham to establish a similar work there.
Similarly, the 2009 report[46] notes that:
- Throughout its history the King’s Arms has been caring for poor and disadvantaged people in Bedfordshire. The King’s Arms Project commenced work among Bedford’s street-homeless in 1989 when a Residential House located in Clarendon Street, Bedford was established. The Project has developed with additional houses and elements; all of which have been set up to cater for the needs of poor and disadvantaged people. Five new churches have been established in the UK, Africa and the USA by members of the King’s Arms Church:
- David and Philippa Stroud, the founders of the King’s Arms led a team to South Birmingham in 1998.
- Martin and Louise White led a team to North Birmingham in 1998.
- Matt and Philippa Hatch led a team to Leeds in 2002.
- Drew and Megan Land went to Durban, South Africa in 2003.
- Euan and Sarah Crane went to North Carolina in 2007.
- Throughout its history the King’s Arms has been caring for poor and disadvantaged people in Bedfordshire. The King’s Arms Project commenced work among Bedford’s street-homeless in 1989 when a Residential House located in Clarendon Street, Bedford was established. The Project has developed with additional houses and elements; all of which have been set up to cater for the needs of poor and disadvantaged people. Five new churches have been established in the UK, Africa and the USA by members of the King’s Arms Church:
In her statement, Stroud said:
- I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that The Observer has suggested otherwise... The idea that I am prejudiced against gay people is both false and insulting.
When the online magazine PinkNews.co.uk emphasised to Stroud's spokesperson that The Observer's prime claim was not that she believed homosexuality to be an illness, but rather that it seemed she believed homosexuality could be overcome through prayer and the removal of "demons", a spokeperson responded that: "We will not be adding to or subtracting to [sic] the statement."[47]
Pink News journalist Jessica Green reports that John Rubinstein, of law firm Rubinstein Phillips, is representing Stroud. The firm contacted a number of media outlets following the accusations to remind them of their responsibilities under Section 106 of the Representation of the Peoples' Act, which states that it is illegal to publish a false statement of fact relating to character or conduct, unless it can be demonstrated that there were reasonable grounds to believe the statement to be true. While Stroud's response asserted that she was not homophobic, nor believed homosexuality to be an illness, John Rubinstein declined to comment on whether Stroud believes that homosexuality is caused by demonic possession, or that she was part of an organisation which followed this doctrine.[48]
Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron defended Stroud, stating on the BBC's Asian Network that "She believes in gay equality" and has made "a very clear statement to say she was completely misreported".[49]
A dedicated Facebook group set up by Lib Dem councillor for Onslow, Chris Ward, with over 5100 members, called upon David Cameron to sack Stroud.
- 'First the B&B incident, then the Julian Lewis incident, now it emerges one of his candidates likes to pray the gay away. Cameron made a big noise about how he deselected a homophobic Tory candidate "within minutes" (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/04/28/cameron-took-action-on-homophobic-candidate-within-minutes/). Any sort of conversion therapy can cause serious damage to LGBT people who believe their sexuality is a mental affliction. If Cameron cares even the slightest about the LGBT community as he says he does, he must sack Philippa Stroud.' [50]
"What Jesus said about... Expelling demons"
A document by Stroud's King's Arms Project titled "What Jesus said about... Expelling demons" is available on their website. It features the following:
- Recognise demonic symptoms (Mark 9:16-18)
- Mark 9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid.
- (all of these symptoms can have other causes)
- Minor symptoms:
- Sin that we ‘can’t seem to break’
- Repeated thoughts of fear/shame/anger/hatred/self pity/death/jealousy/adultery/….endless list!
- Thoughts - ‘lies like flies’ that speaking out God’s word (renewing the mind) doesn’t shift
- Major Symptoms:
- Black outs, violent rages, self-harm, suicide attempts
- Life controlling addictions (stealing, drugs, alcohol, sex, porn, gambling)
- Religious error and confusion
- Mental instability (can also be chemical/emotional)
- Never tell someone they have a demon. Offer to pray and see what happens ‘Father I ask for freedom now from any spiritual oppression’
It continues:
- The 5 R’s – a framework for freedom from spiritual oppression
- • RECOGNISE – the central issue. For example Fear, Rejection etc.
- • REPENT & FORGIVE – anything you have done, anything done to you.
- • RENOUNCE – living under this thing any more. It’s renouncing this lifestyle.
- • REJECT – the demonic oppression. Command as Jesus did ‘leave in Jesus name’.
- • REPLACE – ask God to fill with his love, his peace and whatever is opposite to the thing that’s gone (e.g. replace fear with faith,
- rejection with acceptance). Claim the truth of God’s word.[51]
Further testimony about the casting out of "demons" and the "curing" of homosexuality
Another man commenting as 'QuickFix' on The Guardian blog - of whom journalist Andrew Brown wrote "I am satisfied both that he exists and was a member of Philippa Stroud's church in Bedford" - explained that Stroud's church in Bedford was not conventionally right-wing. The issue of homosexuality was subject to disbelief and confusion rather than overt hostility. Social action was a central feature of the church's work. As 'QuickFix' explains:
- Right from the beginning one of the church's main principles was helping the poor … The majority of people in their church whose political views were on view, were much more Labour inclined than Conservative. I personally was quite surprised when I heard that Philippa was with the Conservative party.
According to 'QuickFix', the existence of demons was a given within the church:
- Demons could lead to anything -- anger, or jealousy, as well as the kind of specific flaw – it was often not just that you had a demon matched to a specific transgression, but that you had demons generally. Often it was very matter of fact. The belief that a demon was present would come out of a prayer session. There might be manifestations -- violent shaking, screaming, lying on the floor. Sometimes there were none. I once saw Philippa cast out a demon in French: that stuck in my mind, I was really impressed that she was fluent enough to talk to a demon in French. There were solid Christians who would talk about themselves as having had a prayer session in which they got rid of the demon in themselves, though that would happen more within small groups or the team on the homeless project than with the whole church.[52]
'QuickFix' was a member of the King's Arms in the 1990s and although has "no knowledge" of Stroud's current views, "it is categorically the case that homosexuality in that church was regarded as a sin, the inclination to which could be cured through prayer and counselling". Although he did not experience exorcism, 'QuickFix', a gay man, was subjected to the church's "attempts to heal" him, although "the church as a whole was pretty big on demons as the source of many an ill". He "personally witnessed Philippa casting them out of people". 'QuickFix' perceives Stroud not as "an evil bigot, but someone who has quite a positive record of helping her community, finely balanced with monumental delusion".[53]
God's Heart for the Poor
The article in The Observer asserted that "Stroud wrote a book, God's Heart for the Poor, in which she explains how to deal with people showing signs of "demonic activity"".[54] Although Stroud is credited as co-author of 'God's Heart for the Poor' (1999) by online bookshops,[55] the other listed author, Christine Leonard, describes the book as a "ghosted biography/how to for Philippa Stroud".[56] The article Stroud contributed to Pro-Life Times in 2001 describes Stroud as "co-author of God's Heart for the Poor".[57]
Appointments
The table below is compiled from records held at Companies House and the Charity Commission.
Name of Company | Charity/Company Number | Position Held | Appointed | Appointment Ends | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
King's Arms Trust | 1044098 | ? | ? | ? | Created 1 January 1995; Ceased to exist 22 January 2008[58] |
Centre for Social Justice | 5137036 | Secretary | 16/06/2004 | 25/01/2005 | Think Tank still active |
Catalyst Urban Trust | Company No. 5835408/Charity 1117251 | Charity Executive Director | 02/06/2006 | 20/01/2007 | Active |
Social Finance Limited | 6402143 | Director | 01/11/2009 | Active at October 2010 | Active |
Centre for Social Justice Consultancy Limited | 6839220 | Director | 06/03/2009 | Active as at October 2010 | Active |
Publications, Contact, Resources, Notes
Publications
- Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Kingsway Publications, 1999.
- Philippa Stroud, 'Breaking Britain: How to address the causes of knife and gun crime' in Social Market Foundation report The New Blue: Conservative candidates on new UK party challenges, launched at the Conservative party conference, September 2008.
Contact
- Website (now deleted but 2008 archive available here): http://www.philippastroud.com/
- Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philippastroud/
External resources
- Jamie Doward, Cal Flynn and Richard Rogers, Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people, The Observer, 2 May 2010.
- The King's Arms, '15 healed on the streets of Bedford!', audio testimony of "physical healings" carried out by The King's Arms Project
- Juliette Jowitt, Iain Duncan Smith adviser being paid by thinktank lobbying his department, The Guardian, 5 November 2012 20.08 GMT
Notes
- ↑ Written Ministerial Statement on Special Adviser numbers, costs and revised model contract and code of conduct Cabinet Office, 11 June 2010, accessed 08.09.10
- ↑ MWW UK Government chart July 2015, accessed 8 July 2015.
- ↑ Jane Merrick, Oliver Wright 'David Cameron poised to give peerages to string of Tory advisers', The Independent, 8 August 2015, accessed 4 November 2015
- ↑ 'Summary of business appointments applications Baroness Stroud'Gov.UK, 26 October 2015, accessed 4 November 2015
- ↑ Private Eye, HP Sauce: Legatum goes global, 6 October 2017
- ↑ Special advisers in post, 30 November 2014 GOV.UK, accessed 29 April 2015
- ↑ UKPoliticalDatabase, Philippa Stroud", The Telegraph, accessed 21.09.10
- ↑ Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1999, p. 31
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1999, p. 22
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1999, p. 25
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1999, p. 26
- ↑ BBC, 1972: Asians given 90 days to leave Uganda, ‘On this Day, 7 August’, BBC Online, accessed 2 October 2010
- ↑ The first wave of refugees to arrive in the UK were those taken aboard a British military vessel in May 1979. As the ‘’Washington Post’’ reported at the time: ‘After several days' delay that dismayed some of her own Conservative supporters in Parliament and the press here, Thatcher decided last night to allow resettlement in Britain of 982 Vietnamese refugees rescued from the South China Sea by the British freighter Sibonga.’: Leonard Downie Jr. 'Boat People' Pose Risky Political Issue for Thatcher, ‘’The Washington Post’’ May 30, 1979, Wednesday, Final Edition, First Section; A16
- ↑ Sarah Richardson, "CANDIDATE OF THE DAY – Philippa Stroud – Sutton and Cheam", Edelman, 01.04.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1999, p. 33
- ↑ Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1999, p. 32
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Centre for Social Justice, "People", 2006, accessed 21.09.10
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Philippa Stroud and Christine Leonard God's Heart for the Poor, Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1999, p. 39
- ↑ King's Arms Project, "KAP Annual Report 2009", accessed 04.10.10
- ↑ Ed Vaizey, "Ed Vaizey MP", Conservative Home, accessed 06.10.10
- ↑ King's Arms Project, "KAP Annual Report 2009", accessed 04.10.10
- ↑ King's Arms Project, "8 August 2006 - 31 December 2007", Charity Commission, p39, accessed 21.09.10
- ↑ Charity Commission Oasis Church Trust Birmingham, accessed 3 October 2010
- ↑ The Centre for Social Justice, "About", accessed 20.09.10
- ↑ Companies House, "The Centre for Social Justice", accessed 21.09.10
- ↑ Iain Duncan Smith, Christianity and Public Life, Conservative Christian Fellowship, 1-December-2010
- ↑ 'Summary of business appointments applications Baroness Stroud'Gov.UK, 26 October 2015, accessed 4 November 2015
- ↑ Martin Durham ‘The Conservative Party, New Labour and the politics of the family’, ‘’Parliamentary Affairs’’, 54 (3): 459. (2001)
- ↑ CARE, "Whom to Contact", 2005, accessed 20.09.10
- ↑ Christian Action Research and Education, "Visiting Lecturers", accessed 20.09.10
- ↑ Tom Phillips, "Controversial Tory Philippa Stroud loses in Sutton and Cheam", The Metro, May 2010, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Jamie Doward, "Secret Christian donors bankroll Tories", The Guardian, 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Sarah Richardson, "CANDIDATE OF THE DAY – Philippa Stroud – Sutton and Cheam", Edelman, 01.04.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Paul Brennan, "Interview with Philippa Stroud", Evangelicals Now, February 2009, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Tom de Castella, Work Experience - Philippa Stroud, director, Centre for Social Justice Regeneration & Renewal, 12 May 2006, accessed 3 October 2010
- ↑ Staff writers, "Philippa Stroud's husband signs controversial Christian election declaration", Ekklesia, 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ "Westminster Declaration", Westminster2010, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Staff writers, "Westminster Declaration attacked by Christian political groups", Ekklesia, 29.04.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Hope Community Church, "Newfrontiers Vision and Values", accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Staff writers, "Philippa Stroud's husband signs controversial Christian election declaration", Ekklesia, 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Philippa Stroud, "March 2001", Pro-Life Times, March 2001, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people", The Observer, 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people", The Observer, 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people", The Observer, 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ King's Arms Project, "8 August 2006 - 31 December 2007", Charity Commission, p39, accessed 21.09.10
- ↑ King's Arms Project, "1 January 2009 - 31 December2009", Charity Commission, p35, 2009, accessed 21.09.10
- ↑ Staff writer, "Tory candidate and Cameron advisor ran church that "cured" homosexuality through prayer", Pink News, 02.05.05, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Jessia Green, "Exclusive: Philippa Stroud's lawyers warn media over 'gay cure' claims", Pink News, 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Jessia Green, "Exclusive: Philippa Stroud's lawyers warn media over 'gay cure' claims", Pink News, 05.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ If Cameron cares an ounce about LGBT people, he'll sack Philippa Stroud, accessed 29 September 2010.
- ↑ King's Arms, "What Jesus said about... Expelling demons", accessed 04.10.10
- ↑ Andrew Brown, "Philippa Stroud: more testimony", 07.05.10, The Guardian, accessed 28.09.10
- ↑ Andrew Brown, "QuickFix", The Guardian, 05.05.10, accessed 28.09.10
- ↑ Jamie Doward, Cal Flyn and Richard Rogers, "Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people", The Observer, 02.05.10, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Amazon.co.uk, "God's Heart for the Poor", accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Christine Leonard, "Chris' books and other writings", accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Philippa Stroud, "March 2001", Pro-Life Times, March 2001, accessed 17.09.10
- ↑ Charity Commission [http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/SHOWCHARITY/RegisterOfCharities/RemovedCharityMain.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1044098&SubsidiaryNumber=0 1044098 - THE KING'S ARMS TRUST], accessed 2 October 2010