From hard-up, single parent upbringing, Crabb walks into his ideal role
STEPHEN Crabb should hit the ground running as the new Work and Pensions Secretary. He has a perfect backstory.
His mother Jacqui single-handedly brought him up with his two brothers in a council flat. When he was just eight, she scooped them up and fled 400 miles from her violent husband in Wales to Greenock in west Scotland.
Mr Crabb said in 2014: “One of my earliest memories is of getting between my mother and father as he came at her with a knife – terrifying. There were other incidents when the police came around. My mother was basically living inside a prison suffering massive physical and emotional abuse.” At school he was bullied for being unable to afford a uniform and would play truant so he could work on a farm to buy trainers.
Mr Crabb, 43 and married with two children, knows the need for a welfare state safety net but is wary of people being stuck in a cycle of dependency. “The most powerful thing to me ... is the way that my mother went through a crisis in her life,” he said in a recent interview with the Spectator that could be a blueprint for this role.
“She started working just a few hours each week, increasing her hours and then moving to a position where with extra training she was able to move into full-time work .... and reach full economic independence.” He called it “the model of how the welfare system should work”.
The family went back to live in Pembrokeshire where his mother religiously took her sons to the library on Saturdays and to church on Sundays. Mr Crabb is a committed Christian.
He has been criticised for voting against same-sex marriage, but insists his faith has instilled in him a duty to help “the vulnerable”. After Bristol University, where he met his future wife Beatrice, Mr Crabb studied at London Business School before working for the London Chamber of Commerce and in marketing. In 2005 he became MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire
‘The way my mother went through a crisis ... to move into full-time work... is the model of how the welfare system should work’
and is a huge fan of Margaret Thatcher, praising her right to buy policy.
In the investigation by The Telegraph into MPs’ expenses, it was revealed Mr Crabb had claimed more than £8,000 to refurbish a flat in London and sold it for a large profit. He then “flipped” his second home from the flat to a house he was buying for his family in Wales.
The MP then designated a room in another flat, rented by Daniel Kawczynski, a fellow Tory backbencher, as his main home. At the time, Mr Crabb said he made the change after being advised by an official in the Commons fees office. He said he carried out only essential work to his flat and it did not affect the value when it was sold
He joined the Cabinet in July 2014 as Welsh Secretary. With criticism of David Cameron’s own privileged upbringing, the appointment was astute.
Two days ago, Right-wing commentator Bruce Anderson tipped Mr Crabb as next party leader: “Hardly anyone has yet heard of Stephen Crabb ... but he is a fascinating fellow. He is hugely popular among Tory MPs. Ask them if he could be the next leader, and there is usually an initial hesitant surprise, followed by: ‘That’s a thought’. Mr Crabb is better placed than John Major was, two years before he became PM.”
As Iain Duncan Smith quits and as heavyweight hopefuls argue behind the scenes over who should succeed Mr Cameron, the really interesting wager seems to be: Stephen Crabb.