Who is Amber Rudd? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

British Celebrities Born In August

Also Known As: Amber Augusta Rudd

Age: 60 Years, 60 Year Old Females

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: A. A. Gill (m. 1990–1995)

father: Tony Rudd

mother: Ethne Fitzgerald

siblings: Roland Rudd

children: Alasdair Gill, Flora Gill

Born Country: England

Political Leaders British Women

Height: 5'10" (178 cm), 5'10" Females

City: Marylebone, England

More Facts

education: University Of Edinburgh

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Childhood & Early Life

Amber Augusta Rudd was born on August 1, 1963, in Marylebone, London, U.K., to Tony Rudd and Ethne FitzGerald. Her father worked as a stockbroker and had been hugely successful in the technology start-ups. Ethne was a direct descendant of King Charles II. Growing up in an affluent family, Amber got the best education. She grew up with a brother and a sister.

She initially attended a boarding school named the ‘New Hall School’ in Essex. She later attended the ‘Cheltenham Ladies’ College,’ Gloucestershire. As a teenager, she had no interest in politics and aspired to build a career in finance instead, following in the footsteps of her father. She eventually graduated high school from the ‘Queen’s College,’ London.

She then graduated with a degree in history from ‘Edinburgh University.’ Immediately after this, she began working at the investment firm ‘J.P. Morgan & Co.’

Amber Rudd regularly moved between New York and London for her job. She learned quickly and was later appointed as the director of an investment company named ‘Lawnstone Ltd.’ Back then, in the late 1980s, she had taken over the reins of the company from her sister and brother-in-law at only 24 years of age.

Over the next decade, she worked at different companies before she developed an interest in national politics. She had already been a huge supporter of the ‘Conservative Party’ and thus joined the party soon.

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Political Career

Amber Rudd began her political career as a ‘Conservative’ candidate from Liverpool Garston in the 2005 general elections, but she lost. She later moved to the Old Town when she was handed over the constituency of Hastings and Rye. She contested in the 2006 elections but lost. However, in 2010, she registered a win and became the MP from the Hastings and Rye constituency.

She also headed the all-party parliamentary group on sex equality and raised her voice against female genital mutilation. She also promoted mandatory sex education at the secondary-school level. Additionally, she also called out the lack of women’s representation in the parliament and the cabinet. In July 2014, she joined the cabinet as the minister of the department for energy and climate change.

After her parliamentary victory the following year, she was promoted to the position of the secretary of state for energy and climate change, and a few weeks later, she made her place in the ‘Privy Council.’ The council was a group of senior politicians from the U.K.

While working in the cabinet, she pushed energy-efficiency measures to especially cater to the poor. Concerned about climate change, she also claimed that by 2025, the U.K. would shut all its coal-based power plants. She stated that as climate change was at its peak in the 21st century, the U.K. needed to adapt more to environment-friendly alternatives.

She was also in the news owing to her stand on ‘BREXIT.’ She supported the ‘Remain’ side and participated in ‘ITV’s famous debate on ‘BREXIT,’ arguing in favor of her stand.

Theresa May took over as the prime minister of the U.K. in 2016, and immediately after her selection, Amber was made the home secretary. She was one of the few female politicians to hold such a powerful position in the ministry.

As the home secretary, she was known to have a strict stance on immigration laws. She was not in favor of granting Australian citizens a free movement zone between Australia and the U.K., following Britain’s exit from the ‘European Union.’

By 2017, she had been elected again as the home secretary. She also retained her MP seat at Hastings and Rye. Over the next few months, her tenure remained slightly controversial, as she got into a slight verbal tiff with the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. Rumors also stated that she was planning to take over as the ‘Conservative Party’ leader.

She was also known for her highly conservative philosophy on internet usage. She was an advocate of setting standards for what people could view on the internet. Rudd suggested a 15-year prison sentence for anybody who viewed radical or far-right content on the internet, such as “jihadi” websites and terrorism-related content.

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She also worked toward cutting down the strength of the police force. However, when the crime rates increased, her leadership was questioned.

In April 2018, Amber Rudd resigned from the position of the home secretary, but she never denied the possibility of a comeback. In November, she was offered another cabinet position, this time as a secretary of state for work and pensions. She later became the minister for disabled people.

In October 2019, she announced that she would be giving up her parliamentary seat from the Hastings and Rye constituency. She, however, clarified that she was not retiring from politics.

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Controversies

Amber Rudd ran into a controversy while she was the home secretary, when it was claimed that she had been threatening the African–Caribbean immigrants with deportation, in case they could not prove they were rightful citizens of the U.K. Many senior ‘Labour Party’ members asked for her resignation, while she maintained that though she was hard on immigrants, she did not have “special” targets. However, it was evident that she had targeted specific communities.

She later claimed that it had been an honest mistake on her part and that she had not read the memo, which was lying in her office, specifying the target immigrants. When she resigned from her position in 2018, she claimed in her resignation letter that she had unintentionally misled the ‘Home Affairs Select Committee.’ She later told a news channel that the backlash against her was justified.

She has also been criticized in the past for her decision of making companies disclose the number of foreign employees working with them, to improve employment opportunities among the British youth. The plans were dropped when she was continuously called a racist.

Family & Personal Life

Amber Rudd had once dated a fellow MP, Kwasi Kwarteng. She married writer and critic Adrian Anthony Gill in 1990. They had two children together. However, the couple later divorced when Gill began dating a journalist.

She serves as the governor of ‘The St. Leonards Academy’ in Hastings.

Her daughter, Flora Gill, is a journalist. Since June 29, 2020, Amber has been appearing with her daughter on radio.

Amber Rudd Biography