Damian Green MP - Who is he?

Damian Green was elected as the Conservative MP for Ashford in 1997, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 24,029.

The constituency of Ashford in Kent contains the fast growing town of Ashford, and then a more rural interlude leading down to the more genteel and smaller town of Tenterden in the south. Ashford has expanded dramatically in the last few decades, and this trend continues, supported in no small part by the HS1 train line which takes commuters into central London in just 30 minutes at speeds of 140 mph.

With a brief Liberal interlude of two years between 1929 and 1931, Ashford has been held by the Conservative Party ever since 1885. After the second World War it was formerly represented in Parliament, by Bill Deedes, who was concurrently the editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Damian Green served as Deputy Prime Minister to Theresa May in 2017. He resigned in the midst of a storm surrounding the previous discovery of pornography on his work computer and whether or not he had breached the ministerial code. This followed an early report into the matter by the civil servant, Sue Gray.

Prior to this, Green had served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions between 2016 and 2017. Before that he worked closely with Theresa May at the Home office, serving as Minister of State for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims, and Minister of State for Immigration.

Since January 2023, Damian Green has served as the acting Chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

He is also the chair of the One Nation group of Conservative MPs, a powerful party faction reported to be 106 MPs strong.

In November 2023, he likened former home secretary Suella Braverman’s “plan B” proposals — following the Supreme Court ruling on the Rwanda deportation policy — to something “Putin and Xi do”.

Senior Conservative likens Suella Braverman’s Rwanda proposal to ‘what Putin and Xi do’

In late 2023, as Rishi Sunak concocted his own Rwanda “plan B” proposals, Green told the Financial Times that “there are very widespread concerns across the parliamentary party that Britain must maintain its reputation as a country that believes in the rule of law.”

Damian Green was born in 1956. He was educated at Reading School and Balliol College, Oxford. He was President of the Oxford Union in 1977. He is married with two daughters.

He is a former financial journalist, who worked for the Times, the BBC, and Channel Four. He served in Prime Minister John Major’s Policy Unit from 1992-94.

Considered on the left of the Conservative Party, Green voted to Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum and is Vice President of the Tory Reform Group. He did though back Boris Johnson in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.

Damian Green is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Adult Social Care; and Longevity. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Football Supporters; and the BBC.

According to the Register of Members Interests, he works as a consultant to the rail and bus operator, Abellio Transport Holdings.