Christina has been working in British politics for many years. Her career has taken in many different aspects of political life. It began in the Conservative Research Department, from where she progressed to be a Special Adviser (for the Rt Hon Norman Fowler MP, now the Rt Hon Lord Fowler, PC, the Lord Speaker). Her term was cut short by pregnancy complications. In her subsequent maternity break Christina ran her own business, offering political writing and speech preparation. She also administered the Conservative Medical Society for seven years, gaining her further insights into health delivery.
Moving back to Central Office in 1998 and reporting directly to the Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP (now The Rt Hon Lord Lilley PC), then Deputy Leader of the Party, she directed the ‘Listening to Britain’ project, a major public relation and development exercise for the Conservative Party.
Christina remained in Central Office to become the first Head of the new Development Department. Later as Director of Development and Candidates she is credited with introducing two innovative projects: cutting edge techniques in assessment for the candidates’ list; and the development of a unit to sustain an outreach programme. The common aim of both projects was the sourcing and introduction of greater diversity into the Conservative Parliamentary candidates’ list. Her work laid the foundation for David Cameron’s insistence on great diversity in Parliament selection and Theresa May’s Women 2 Win.
Christina also inspired the founding of the Conservative Muslim Forum believing it is important to give voice to moderate Muslims in the Conservative Party.
In 2003, on leaving CCHQ Christina became adviser to the then Shadow Attorney General, the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP, on community cohesion. She stayed with Dominic becoming his Shadow Special Adviser when he was Shadow Secretary of State for Justice (succeeding the Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP in the role) and his Senior Parliamentary Adviser when he was Attorney General. She left Dominic’s office in 2017 to finish her PhD.
Believing that professional development is essential to any career in 2005 Christina re-trained in order to apply professional techniques to assess people on skills and personal profiles. Spotted by the Leadership Centre for Local Government she started work as its Special Adviser (Conservative) where she joined Joe Simpson to work on his ground breaking Civic Pride project. She worked in a number of first-tier councils with their top teams, encouraging good political leadership. She also devised, developed and led for 12 years the Conservative Next Generation programme for aspiring local councillors.
Christina was encouraged by the Leadership Centre to expand her knowledge further by training as coach in political leadership. She qualified with a certificate from the Tavistock Institute in political coaching in 2008.
Coaching political leadership is particularly satisfying for Christina as it combines organizational development with her political knowledge.
She firmly believes that as the responsibilities and scope of governing becomes more complicated, leaders need to take their professional development seriously.
Recent Activities
Special Adviser: Citizen’s UK Commission into the Integration of Muslim Communities 2015-7.
She completed two terms as Associate of the Institute for Government; Christina helped with several project including on local government and development support for MPs.
She has served two terms a Trustee of Revolving Doors Agency; a charity dedicated to helping people with multiple and complex needs who are caught in the criminal justice system.
The Democracy Society; Christina had helped between 2014 - 2018, first as a Governor and then as a member of the Conseil d’Administration, Anthony Zacharzewski’s organisation on encouraging greater citizen participation in our democratic system.
She spoke at Buckingham University, contributing to The Vice-Chancellor’s, Sir Anthony Seldon, Fire Side Chats series, in March 2018 on Is our Democracy safe with Politicians?
On Going
MiSoc Policy Advisory Group on Ethnicity and Migration (Sussex University). In 2015 Professor Shamit Saggar invited Christina to be a member of the group which offers critical comments on unpublished academic reports.
Christina is proud to be an Associate and Adviser to Cityforum to which she contributes by speaking at events and acting as a critical friend to specified clients.
Christina is in her final year of study for a PhD in biographical history at Buckingham University, tutored by Professor Jane Ridley. She completed a MA in December 2015 for which she was awarded First Class and the Toby Charles Harrison McInnis prize for best performance in MA Biography of her year.