Patrick Rock

Patrick Rock was deputy director of policy for David Cameron, Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, until he resigned in 2014 over allegations of child abuse.^[1]

Early life

Educated at Stonyhurst College and Oxford University, where he studied Modern History, he was widely credited in Westminster with coining the phrase 'Cows moo, dogs bark, Labour puts up taxes.'^[2]

Political career

At the age of 28 he stood unsuccessfully for the Woolwich East constituency in the 1979 General election and was also unsuccessful in Crewe and Nantwich in 1983.

In 1984 the sitting MP for the Portsmouth South constituency, Bonner Pink, died, causing a By-election. At the time the Conservative Party had a majority of over 12,000, however he was defeated by 1,341 votes by the Social Democratic Party candidate Mike Hancock, leading to his defeat being described as the 'biggest election [upset in] years'^[3]

Rock tried one last time to become a Conservative MP. In 1990 he attempted to be selected as the Conservative candidate for Devizes but lost out to former Conservative MP Michael Ancram QC,^[3] who was elected in 1992.

Special Advisor

After his unsuccessful attempts at becoming an MP, Rock became an advisor to various Ministers during the 1990s, including Michael Howard and also Chris Patten in Brussels, where he was given responsibility for the Western Balkans.^[4]

In 2011, David Cameron brought him into his government by appointing him as his 10 Downing Street Deputy Director of Policy.

Resignation and arrest

In March 2014 it was discovered that he had been arrested on the charges of child abuse image claims.^[5]

Rock was charged, in June 2014, with three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child in August 2013. He was also charged with possession of 59 indecent images of children.^[6]

In December 2014 he pleaded not guilty to six charges of making indecent photographs of children aged between 10 and 13 and one charge of possessing 56 indecent images of children aged between 10 and 14.^[7]

References