Philippa Strache

Pia Philippa Strache
Member of the National Council
In office 23 October 2019 – 23 October 2024
Personal details
Born	(1987-12-01) 1 December 1987 (age 37) Vienna, Austria
Political party	Freedom Party (until October 2019)
Spouse	Heinz-Christian Strache ​ ​ (m. 2016; div. 2023)​
Children	1

Pia Philippa Beck[1] (born 1 December 1987 in Vienna, known during her marriage as Philippa Strache)[2] is an Austrian presenter and politician.

Life

Strache was Josef Cap's assistant for five years in the parliamentary club of the SPÖ.[3] Between 2012 and 2013, she worked as spokeswoman for Team Stronach. In 2016, she became presenter for the newly founded news channel oe24.tv.[4] Additionally, she moderated the FPÖ's channel FPÖ TV on YouTube.[5]

Beginning in summer of 2018, Strache served as honorary animal welfare officer of the FPÖ. She was also responsible for Heinz-Christian Strache's social media appearance.[6] Strache is said to have received a salary of €9,500 for these functions.[7]

Strache was an FPÖ candidate for the 2019 National Council elections. Her final entry into parliament was unclear for some time due to discussions about expense reports and the arithmetic of the elections.[8] The discussion generated a broad media response.[9][10][11]

On 7 October, the FPÖ announced that Harald Stefan would waive his basic mandate and thus enter the National Council via the national list, which would not have given Strache a mandate.[12] On 9 October 2019 however, Vienna's state election authority announced that Harald Stefan could not waive his basic mandate and that Strache would therefore definitely be entitled to a mandate via the national list.[13] As a result, the federal party chairman Norbert Hofer and the designated club Chairman Herbert Kickl immediately declared that the FPÖ would not include Philippa Strache in their parliamentary club. In the constituent session of the 27th legislative period on 23 October 2019, Strache became a member of the National Council; she was expelled from the FPÖ the same day.[14]

Personal life

Her relationship with Heinz-Christian Strache began in autumn of 2015; they had their first public appearance together in January 2016 at the Jägerball. Their wedding followed on 7 October 2016. On 1 January 2019, she gave birth to their son.[15][16] The couple divorced in June 2023, when she started using her maiden name again.

References

1. "Bundeswahlvorschlag FPÖ".
2. Streit um Hunde: Jetzt spricht Philippa Strache, retrieved May, 2019
3. Ausländerfeindlich ist Heinz-Christian Strache nicht, weiß Frau Philippa, German. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
4. Fellner! Live: Philippa Strache im Interview, retrieved 21 May 2019.
5. Wer ist Philippa Strache? auf news.at from 1 January 2019.
6. Philippa Strache bei STÖCKL. – 15.11.2018. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
7. Salzburger Nachrichten (3 October 2019). "Philippa Strache soll 9.500 Euro FPÖ-Gehalt bekommen haben". Salzburger Nachrichten.
8. Nina Weißensteiner (3 October 2019). "Blauer Unmut über Philippa Strache wächst – derStandard.at". Der Standard.
9. Lukas Kapeller (3 October 2019). "Was Philippa Straches Einzug ins Parlament zur Zitterpartie macht". Kurier.
10. Herbert Neubauer (2 October 2019). "Mandat von Philippa Strache: Wiener FPÖ übt das Abwarten". Die Presse.
11. "FPÖ: Philippa Strache maximal "wilde Abgeordnete"". Kleine Zeitung. 5 October 2019.
12. Der Standard
13. Der Standard
14. ORF
15. Warum Kurz seinem Vize Strache den Papamonat schenkt 14 February 2019.
16. Das politische Neujahrsbaby heißt Hendrik Strache. Retrieved 21 May 2019.