Damian Green

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Damian Howard Green (born January 17, 1956) British politician who has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ashford since 1997.

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[edit] Early life

Damian Green was born in Barry, Wales and was educated at Reading School in Berkshire and at Balliol College, Oxford where he was awarded a BA degree in PPE in 1977 followed by a master's degree. He was President of the Oxford Union in 1977 and was the vice chairman of the National Association of Conservative Students (now known as Conservative Future) for two years from 1980.

[edit] Career

In 1978 he was appointed by BBC Radio as a financial journalist, before joining Channel 4 News as a business producer in 1982. He joined The Times for a year in 1984 as the business news editor, before returning to television journalism and Channel 4 as the business editor in 1985. He became the City editor and also a television presenter on Channel 4's Business Daily television programme from 1987 until he left television to join the Prime Minister's Policy Unit under John Major in 1992. Green had acted as an occasional speech writer for Major since 1988. He left 10 Downing Street in 1994 to run his own public affairs consultancy.

[edit] Political career

He stood against Labour's Ken Livingstone in Brent East at the 1992 General Election, losing by 5,971 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons for the Kent seat of Ashford at the 1997 General Election following the retirement of the veteran Tory MP Keith Speed. Green held the seat with a majority of 5,345 and has remained the MP there since. He made his maiden speech on May 20, 1997,[1] making a small faux pas in having already asked a question of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown earlier the same day.[2]

In parliament he was a member of the culture, media and sport select committee from 1997 until his appointment by William Hague in 1998 to the frontbench as a spokesman on education and employment. He was moved to speak on the environment from 1999, and was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet by Iain Duncan Smith in 2001 as the Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills. In 2003, Michael Howard moved him out of the newly-shrunken Shadow Cabinet, and gave him the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. In September 2004, he left the front bench altogether of his own accord[3] and joined the home affairs select committee, and has been a member of the treasury committee since the 2005 General Election. He returned to the frontbench under the leadership of David Cameron in 2005 as a spokesman on home affairs and the shadow minister for immigration.

In December 2005, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Immigration and Damian is Chairman of Parliamentary Mainstream, a Vice-President of the Tory Reform Group and he is a Vice-Chairman of the John Smith Memorial Trust.[4]

Ashford International railway station in his constituency is the last stop in England on Eurostar before entering the Channel Tunnel between Cheriton and Coquelles, France and mainland Europe.

[edit] Personal life

He married Alicia Collinson in April 1988 in the City of London and they have two daughters (born March 1990 and November 1993). In 2002, he spent the day as a teacher at a school in the London Borough of Wandsworth.[5]

[edit] Publications

  • ITN Budget Factbook, by Damian Green, 1984, ITN
  • ITN Budget Factbook, by Damian Green, 1985, ITN
  • ITN Budget Factbook, by Damian Green, 1986, ITN
  • Better BBC: Public Service Broadcasting in the '90s, by Damian Green, 1990, Centre for Policy Studies ISBN 1-870265-77-7
  • Freedom of the Airwaves by Damian Green, 1990, CPC ISBN 0-85070-806-0
  • Communities in the Countryside, by Damian Green, 1995. ISBN 1-874097-11-9
  • The Cross Media Revolution: Ownership and Control, Edited by Damian Green, 1995, University of Luton Press ISBN 0-86196-545-0
  • Regulating the Media in the Digital Age, by Damian Green, 1997, European Media Forum
  • 21st Century Conservatism, by Damian Green, 1998
  • The Four Failures of the New Deal, by Damian Green, 1998, Centre for Policy Studies ISBN 1-897969-84-8

[edit] External links

[edit] News items

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hansard - 20th May 1997
  2. ^ Hansard - 20th May 1997
  3. ^ BBC News - 13th Sept 04
  4. ^ Damian Green MP official site
  5. ^ BBC News - 9th Jan 02
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Keith Speed		 Member of Parliament for Ashford
1997 – present		 Incumbent
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