Claire Fox

Claire Fox (born 5 June 1960,^[1] Barton-upon-Irwell), also known as Claire Foster, is a British writer. She is the director and founder of the British think tank, the Institute of Ideas, and a prominent former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

Early life

Fox was born into an Irish Catholic family in North Wales, the daughter of John Fox and Maura Cleary and the older sister of Fiona Fox and Gemma Fox.^[2] After attending St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint^{[citation needed]}, Claire Fox studied at the University of Warwick where she graduated with a lower second class degree (2:2) in English and American Literature.^{[citation needed]} She gained a PCGE from Thames Polytechnic (now the University of Greenwich) on the A210 in Avery Hill, Eltham in 1992.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Fox was a mental health social worker from 1981-7.^{[citation needed]} From 1987-90 she was an English Language and Literature lecturer at Thurrock Technical College (now called Thurrock and Basildon College) and at West Herts College from 1992-9.^{[citation needed]}

Revolutionary Communist Party

During her time at the university, Fox joined the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). For the next twenty years, she became one of the RCP's core activists and organisers, becoming co-publisher of its magazine Living Marxism (later abbreviated simply to LM Magazine). Fox stayed with her ex-RCP members when the group transformed itself in the late 1990s into a network around the web magazine Spiked Online and the Institute of Ideas, both based in the former RCP offices. The group now takes the position that the terms 'left-' and 'right-wing' no longer carry any meaning.

Moral Maze

Fox rose to prominence when she appeared as a witness on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze, arguing for the importance of the right to free speech for all - including a reggae singer called Beenie Man who had written music 'inciting' the murder of gay men. This 'controversial' style led to an invitation to become a regular panelist on the show.

As well as her regular Moral Maze slot she has also appeared as a panellist on BBC One's Question Time. She also writes a monthly column in the Municipal Journal and presented her own show on web TV station 18 Doughty Street called Claire Fox News.

Criticism

Fox has been widely criticised for her libertarian belief in the desirability of minimal governmental control and support of free speech in all contexts. In particular, she has been accused of "supporting Gary Glitter’s right to download child porn",^[3][4][5] (a claim she denies^[6]), without a source for the statement. She has also been criticised for rejecting multiculturalism as divisive,^[3] questioning the negative publicity surrounding genetically modified crops^[7] suggesting global warming may not be caused by greenhouse gas emissions,^{[citation needed]} and denying that there are any natural limits to human activity on the planet with her suggestion that everyone could be as rich as a multi-millionaire.^[8]

References

1. ^ guardian.co.uk.
2. ^ Sunday Times: Relative Values Claire and Fiona Fox, sisters (May 2006) - An interview with Claire and Fiona Fox
3. ^ ^{a b} Stuart Jeffries, "Infamy's child", Guardian
4. ^ The Andrew Billen Interview, Times
5. ^ Time Out list of London's movers and shakers (no.64)
6. ^ "Foxing Clever". The Richmond Magazine. 
7. ^ "The Alliance of Science", Guardian
8. ^ Turn up the Heat event, World Development Movement, 8 May 2008

External links

• Institute of Ideas biography
• Interview with Claire Fox The Guardian, November 19, 2005
• "Relative Values Claire and Fiona Fox, sisters", Sunday Times, May 2006 - An interview with Claire and Fiona

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Name	Fox, Claire
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Date of birth	5 June 1960
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