Stephen Crabb

“[W]ork and education as routes out of poverty were drummed into us” explained Stephen Crabb, in reference to his working class Welsh upbringing. He rose through the ranks quickly after his election as an MP, serving as under-secretary of state for the Wales Office and then secretary of state for Wales before being appointed secretary of state for work and pensions. Crabb put welfare reform at the forefront of his agenda, campaigning for a society where fewer people are, in his own words, “caught in dependency”. In the Conservative leadership contest of 2016, Crabb ran with Sajid Javid, who would have been his chancellor. He was seen as a plausible moderate candidate, backed by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson who called him a “political soulmate”. Even so, he was soon knocked out of the contest, and returned to the DWP. His career hit a hurdle when it was revealed that Crabb had sent explicit messages to a 19-year-old female candidate for a job in his office: he subsequently resigned from cabinet. Crabb has kept a relatively low profile since then, lobbying for a public sector pay rise from the back benches.