Damian Collins

Collins was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Collins 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.

On 10 September 2012, Collins was made PPS to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers.

In September 2012, he came under criticism 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.

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.

In 2010, it was reported that 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 said 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."

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

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 Leader of Conservative Party, who stepped down from Parliament in 2010.

At the 2005 general election, he stood in Northampton North; where he finished in second place to sitting Labour MP Sally Keeble who was re-elected with a majority of 3,960 votes over Collins. 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 Conservative Party.

In 2002, he was the political officer of the 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.

Between 1999–2008, Collins worked for the M&C Saatchi advertising agency. In 2005, whilst still working 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 stand at the 2010 general election.

Collins was educated at St. Mary's [R.C.] High School, a state voluntary aided comprehensive school in the village of Lugwardine in Herefordshire, followed by Belmont Abbey School, a former boarding independent school in Hereford, where he studied for his A Levels. He then went up to St Benet's Hall at the University of Oxford, from which he graduated in Modern History in 1996. The previous year, he became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association.

Damian Noel Thomas Collins (born 4 February 1974 in Northampton) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Folkestone and Hythe since the 2010 general election.