Damian Howard Green (born 17 January 1956) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashford from 1997 to 2024. Green briefly served as Theresa May's deputy, holding the office of First Secretary of State, which functioned as the Prime Minister's de facto deputy role.
Green was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, in Wales and studied philosophy, politics and economics at Balliol College, Oxford. He is married to the barrister Alicia Collinson who was a contemporary of Theresa May at St Hugh's College, Oxford.
After working as a journalist for the BBC, Channel 4 and The Times, he entered parliament at the 1997 general election by winning the seat of Ashford in Kent.
Green served in several shadow ministerial positions, including Shadow Transport Secretary and Shadow Education and Skills Secretary. He came to national prominence in November 2008 after being arrested and having his parliamentary office raided by police, although no case was brought. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition until July 2014, first as Minister of State for Immigration and then as Minister of State for Police and Criminal Justice.
Green was appointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by Prime Minister Theresa May in July 2016. Following the 2017 general election, he was promoted to First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office. After the results of an inquiry into allegations that he sexually harassed a woman and viewed pornography on a work computer were published, it was found that he had breached the ministerial code and he was instructed to resign from the cabinet amidst the 2017 Westminster sexual misconduct allegations. He became chair of the One Nation Conservatives caucus following the formation of Boris Johnson's government in July 2019. In January 2023, he became acting chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee after Julian Knight temporarily stood aside, and again in April 2023 after Knight resigned.
At the 2024 general election, Green lost the Ashford constituency to Sojan Joseph of the Labour Party amidst a strong nationwide swing from the Conservatives. This represented the first time since 1929 that the seat had returned a non-Conservative MP.
Damian Green was born in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales. He grew up in Reading and was educated at Reading School.
Green studied philosophy, politics and economics at Balliol College, Oxford. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1977 and was the vice-chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students (now known as Conservative Future) from 1980 until 1982.
During his time at Oxford, Green broke a wrist after a group of fellow students ambushed him and threw him into the River Cherwell. Reportedly the group included Dominic Grieve, who was later to serve alongside Green as a cabinet minister.
In 1978, Green 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 presenter on Channel 4's Business Daily television programme in 1987 until he left television to join Prime Minister John Major's Policy Unit in 1992. Green had acted as an occasional speechwriter for Major since 1988. He left 10 Downing Street in 1994 to run his own consultancy in public affairs.
Green stood unsuccessfully for election in Brent East at the 1992 general election, where he came second with 36.6% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Ken Livingstone.
At the 1997 general election, Green was elected as MP for Ashford, winning with 41.4% of the vote and a majority of 5,345. He made his maiden speech on 20 May 1997. He was re-elected as MP for Ashford at the 2001 general election with an increased vote share of 47.4% and an increased majority of 7,359. At the 2005 general election, Green was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 51.6% and an increased majority of 13,298. At the 2010 general election, Green was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 54.1% and an increased majority of 17,297.
Green is an advocate of allowing illegal immigrants to return to the UK sooner. He has supported voluntary return for overstayers and other migrants in order to avoid deportation, claiming "we expect those with no right to be in the country to leave voluntarily". In 2011, in his role as Immigration Minister, he relaxed a five-year re-entry ban to two years He has stated that the illegal immigrants being in the UK for a "shorter period of time" was a positive and "saves money", although children kept being detained.
At the 2015 general election, Green was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 52.5% and an increased majority of 19,296.
Green was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum.
Green is chairman of Parliamentary Mainstream, a vice-president of the Tory Reform Group and is a vice-chairman of the John Smith Memorial Trust.
At the snap 2017 general election, Green was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 59% and a decreased majority of 17,478. He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 62.1% and an increased majority of 24,029.
While a backbencher, he was a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee from 1997 until his appointment to the frontbench by William Hague in 1998 as a spokesman on education and employment. He spoke 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.