Member of Parliament
Hammond was the chairman of the Lewisham East Conservative Association for seven years from 1989 and contested the 1994 Newham North East by-election caused by the death of the sitting Labour Ron Leighton, losing to Labour's Stephen Timms by 11,818 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 General Election for the new Surrey seat of Runnymede and Weybridge. He won the seat with a majority of 9,875 and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on 17 June 1997.
In 2009 it emerged that Hammond had claimed just £8 short of the maximum allowance for a second home in London from 2007 to 2008 even though he lived in the commuter belt town of Woking. As a result of the criticism Hammond said he would pay back any profit on the future sale of his second home to the public purse.
Read more about this topic: Philip Hammond
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