Born in 1947, Chris was educated at Marlborough College, the University of St Andrews and the Inns of Court Law School.  He was called to the Bar in 1972.

Chris was first elected to Wandsworth Council in 1974, and was Leader of the Council from 1979 until 1983, when he was elected Member of Parliament for Southampton Itchen.  Between 1983 and 1992, Chris served as Minister of State at the Treasury (1985-86), Parliamentary Private Secretary to Peter Brooke MP (1986), Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Transport (1986-90) and Minister for Roads and Traffic (1990-92).

After losing his seat in 1992, he worked as a consultant for Ernst and Young, and was a member of the DTI Deregulation Task Force on Transport and Communications.  He was also a member of the Health and Safety Commission from 1993 to 1997, and of the Local Government Commission for England since 1994.

He was re-elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Christchurch in May 1997, and appointed Frontbench Spokesman for Environment, Transport and the Regions and Vice-Chairman of the Party with responsibility for Local Government.

In June 1998, he was appointed Opposition Frontbench Spokesman for Social Security. In September 2001, he was appointed as an Opposition Frontbench Spokesman for the Treasury. In June 2002, he was appointed as Shadow Minister of State for Transport. From November 2003 to May 2005, he served as a Shadow Minister for Environment & Transport.

He is currently one of the honorary Vice Presidents of Conservative Way Forward, having served as its Chairman from 2001 until July 2009.

He and his wife, Christine, have two children: Antonia and Philip.