Damian Collins

Education

Collins was educated at St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, a voluntary aided Roman Catholic comprehensive school in Herefordshire, and Belmont Abbey School, a co-educational independent school in the same county, followed by St Benet's Hall, at the University of Oxford, from 1993 to 1996, from which he graduated in modern history. He was president of the Oxford University Conservative Association in Hilary Term 1995.

Early career

Between 1999 and 2008, Collins worked for the M&C Saatchi advertising agency. In 2005, whilst still at M&C Saatchi, he set up Influence Communications within the group which specialised in issues based marketing campaigns. Before joining M&C Saatchi he worked in the Conservative Research Department. In 2008 he joined Lexington Communications, where he was Senior Counsel, before leaving to fight the 2010 general election.

Political career

In 2002 he was the political officer of the centre-right think tank, the Bow Group and a contributor to its 2006 publication Conservative Revival (Politico's Publishing, 2006). In the September 2007 edition of Esquire magazine, he was featured along with six other Conservative parliamentary candidates, as one of the new faces of the party.

In the 2005 general election he came second when standing in Northampton North. In May 2006 Collins was included on the "A-list" of Conservative parliamentary candidates, created following the election of David Cameron as leader of the party.

On 13 July 2006 he was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for the Folkestone and Hythe constituency. He was the successor as Conservative candidate for this seat to Michael Howard, a former Home Secretary and latterly leader of Conservative party, who stepped down in 2010.

In November 2007 he was included on The Observer's Future 500 list as one of the 50 people to watch in British public life. He was also listed in Insight Public Affairs profiles of the 'Next Generation' of MPs to watch and was interviewed by Sky News for its meet the new MPs series.

In Parliament

Damian Collins made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 27 May 2010 in the debate on energy and the environment in the Queens's Speech debate. He spoke about his support for a new nuclear power station at Dungeness in his constituency.

In July 2010 he was elected as a member of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, of which he was later made chair.

Collins was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Expenses

It was revealed Collins claimed £4,440.90 over three months in rent for a house in London, despite declaring that he already owned a home in the capital. In his defence he claimed the property belonged to his wife and was "too small to provide accommodation for my young family, and even if that was not the case, as a new Member of Parliament I wouldn't be able to claim any accommodation allowance against the mortgage on the property."

Minimum Wage Controversy

In September 2012 he came under fire for suggesting that jobless youths should work for less than minimum wage and for suggesting that they should busk to raise money for fares to find work.

Personal life

Damian and his wife Sarah have two children, a daughter Claudia (born 2007) and a son Hugo (born 2009).

Author

Damian is the author of 'Charmed Life: The Phenomenal World of Philip Sassoon' first published in hardback in June 2016 by William Collins and republished in paperback in February 2017. Philip Sassoon was himself elected as MP for Hythe in 1912.