Claire is a writer, broadcaster, free-speech campaigner and author of I Find That Offensive! She is a panellist on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze and appears in UK media frequently, including on Newsnight, Any Questions and Sky Newspaper Review. Claire is a member of the European Cultural Parliament and director and founder of the Academy of Ideas. Claire Fox was elected Brexit Party MEP for North West England at the 2019 European Parliament election and served until the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020.
The Academy was founded in 2000 to provide a forum committed to open and robust public debate in which ideas can be interrogated, argued for and fought over. The Academy organises intelligent public debates, on controversial topics, and most importantly challenges contemporary knee-jerk orthodoxies. One focus of the work is to ensure that new generations look behind the headlines and avoid over simplistic conclusions on difficult topics. To this end, The Academy organises a range of high-profile public events, including a yearly two-day festival, the Battle of Ideas. The Academy also founded the acclaimed sixth-form debating competition Debating Matters and Living Freedom, a residential school in London for 18- to 25- year-olds.
In the European Parliament, Claire was a member of the Culture and Education committee and the Industry, Research and Energy committee. She stood as an MEP to represent those people in the North West who voted out of the European Union and, whilst recognising that the European Parliament is a relatively powerless institution, she aimed to represent her constituents’ interests in the EP as well as regionally in the North West.
In August 2020, Claire was nominated to become a Peer in the House of Lords, and was introduced into the House as Baroness Fox of Buckley on the 8th of October. In the Lords, Claire continues to raise awareness of issues around free speech, censorship and the promotion of civil debate.