HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Damian Howard Green (born 17 January 1956) is a British politician who served as
First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...
and
Minister for the Cabinet Office The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The minister is responsible for the work and policies of the Cabinet Office, and since February 2022, reports to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lanc ...
from June to December 2017 in the Second May government. A member of the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, he has been
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town **B ...
since
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
. Green was born in
Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Barry ( cy, Y Barri; ) is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Bar ...
,
South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
and studied philosophy, politics and economics at
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
. After working as a journalist for the BBC,
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
and ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'', he entered Parliament at the 1997 election by winning the seat of
Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town **B ...
in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
. 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 The Cameron–Clegg coalition was formed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg when Cameron was invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010, after the gene ...
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 The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the busin ...
by Prime Minister
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
in July 2016. Following the June 2017 general election, he was appointed 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 A series of allegations concerning the involvement of British politicians in cases of sexual harassment and assault arose in October and November 2017. Allegations were prompted by discussions among junior staff employed in the UK Parliament at ...
.


Early life

Damian Green was born in
Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...
,
Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Mot ...
, Wales. He grew up in
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
,
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...
and was educated at
Reading School Reading School is a grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England. There are no ...
. Green studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
. He was President of the
Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...
in 1977 and was the vice-chairman of the
Federation of Conservative Students The Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) was the student organisation of the British Conservative Party from the late 1940s to 1986. It was created to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party. It produced sev ...
(now known as
Conservative Future Conservative Future (CF) was the youth movement of the Conservative Party in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The organisation was made up of all members of the Conservative Party who were 30 years old or younger. Conservative Future was fou ...
) 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 Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve (born 24 May 1956) is a British barrister and former politician who served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2008 to 2009 and Attorney General for England and Wales from 2010 to 2014. He served as the Member of Parl ...
, who was later to serve alongside Green as a Cabinet Minister.


Early career

In 1978, Green was appointed by
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
as a financial journalist, before joining ''
Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...
'' as a business producer in 1982. He joined ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday 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 A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
editor and also a television presenter on Channel 4's ''
Business Daily The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception are ...
'' television programme in 1987 until he left television to join Prime Minister
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...
's Policy Unit in 1992. Green had acted as an occasional speechwriter for Major since 1988. He left
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...
in 1994 to run his own
consultancy A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...
in public affairs.


Political career

Green stood against Labour's
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office ...
in Brent East at the 1992 general election, but lost by 5,971 votes. He was elected to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
for the
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
seat of
Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town **B ...
at the 1997 general election following the retirement of Tory MP
Keith Speed Sir Herbert Keith Speed (11 March 1934 – 12 January 2018) was a British Conservative politician and former Member of Parliament. He was a descendant of cartographer and historian John Speed. Life Speed was born on 11 March 1934 in Evesham an ...
. Green held the seat with a majority of 5,345 and has remained the constituency's MP. He made his
maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...
on 20 May 1997.


Shadow Ministerial career

While a
backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the ...
, he was a member of the
Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department for ...
from 1997 until his appointment to the frontbench by
William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
in 1998 as a spokesman on education and employment. He spoke on the
environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
from 1999 and was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet by
Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was S ...
in 2001 as the Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills. In 2003,
Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posit ...
gave him the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. In September 2004, he left the frontbench altogether of his own accord and joined the
Home Affairs Select Committee The Home Affairs Select Committee is a Departmental Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependenc ...
, and was a member of the
Treasury Committee The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...
after the 2005 general election. Whilst sitting as an MP he was a non-executive director of Mid Kent Water from 2005 to 2007, and of the successor company South East Water until 2010. Between July 2009 and February 2010, Green was paid £16,666.64 for 112 hours by South East Water for "attending meetings and offering advice" according to the House of Commons Record of Members Interests. He returned to the frontbench under the leadership of
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
in 2005 as a spokesman on home affairs and shadow minister for immigration. Green is Chairman of Parliamentary Mainstream, a vice-president of the
Tory Reform Group The Tory Reform Group (TRG) is a pressure group associated with the British Conservative Party that works to promote "modern, progressive Conservatism... economic efficiency and social justice" and "a Conservatism that supports equality, divers ...
and is a vice-chairman of the John Smith Memorial Trust.


Police Minister

As Police Minister in the Coalition Government, Green called for increased partnerships between the police and the private sector. His sacking in the 2014 cabinet reshuffle was met with some surprise as he was considered to be highly regarded by colleagues.


Theresa May ministry

Green was appointed as
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the busin ...
by
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
in July 2016. He was appointed as
First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...
on 11 June 2017, as part of the cabinet reshuffle following the 2017 general election, effectively making him May's deputy. He was also promoted to
Minister for the Cabinet Office The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The minister is responsible for the work and policies of the Cabinet Office, and since February 2022, reports to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lanc ...
.


Parliamentary voting record

According to parliamentary monitoring website,
TheyWorkForYou TheyWorkForYou is a parliamentary monitoring website operated by mySociety which aims to make it easier for UK citizens to understand what is going on in Westminster, as well as the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembl ...
, Green has voted the same way as other Conservative MPs on the vast majority of issues. As of May 2021, his voting record shows the following trends: * generally against measures to prevent climate change * generally against UK membership of the EU * generally against more EU integration * generally against a right to remain for EU nationals already in living in the UK * generally for measures to reduce tax avoidance * almost always for reducing the rate of corporation tax * generally against laws to promote equality and human rights * generally for equal gay rights * consistently for raising the threshold at which people start to pay income tax * always for reducing capital gains tax * consistently for mass surveillance of people's communications and activities * almost always for a stricter asylum system * almost always for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits


Controversies


2008 arrest

Green was arrested by the
Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
at his constituency home on 27 November 2008 on suspicion of "aiding and abetting misconduct in public office" and "conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office". The documents were reported to include information politically embarrassing to the then-Labour Government. He was later released on bail. In a statement to Parliament on 3 December, Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons, responsible for the security of the Palace of Westminster, stated that although the police undertaking the search had neither presented a
search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...
nor given "the requisite advice that such a warrant was necessary", the search of the Parliamentary office had been undertaken with the express written consent of the
Serjeant-at-Arms A serjeant-at-arms, or sergeant-at-arms, is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin ''serviens'', which means "servant". Historically, ...
,
Jill Pay Jill Pay (born 10 May 1951) is a retired official of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She was Serjeant at Arms in the House of Commons. Pay is the first woman to have held the position. Her appointment was unusual in that the position had h ...
, who had signed a consent form without consulting the
Clerk of the House The clerk, chief clerk, or secretary of a legislative chamber is the senior administrative officer responsible for ensuring that its business runs smoothly. This may encompass keeping custody of documents lain before the house, received, or produ ...
. The arrest led to speculation about the apparent coincidence that it was authorised on the last day in office of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. It was criticised by political figures and journalists. It was reported in ''
The Andrew Marr Show ''The Andrew Marr Show'' is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021. The programme replaced the long-running '' Breakfast with Frost'' as the network's flagship Sunday talk show when D ...
'' that he believed he was the subject of a
bugging A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, or wiretapping is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and ...
operation, which would have required the authorisation of the Home Secretary.
Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British broadcaster, political commentator and former Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch from 1997 to 2010. She served as Home Secretary from 2007 to 2009 ...
stated that she had not granted any such order. Green's constituency agent subsequently confirmed that a search of Green's property and car had been commissioned, but that no listening devices were discovered. A junior Home Office civil servant, Christopher Galley, subsequently admitted leaking four "embarrassing" documents to Green and was sacked. On 16 April 2009, the
Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advi ...
announced that it was not going to bring a case against either Green or Galley as there was "insufficient evidence".


Expenses claims

During the
UK parliamentary expenses scandal The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expenses claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords over the previous year ...
''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' newspaper revealed that, although Green's constituency is a mere 45-minute commute from Westminster, he claimed expenses for a designated second home in Acton, west London. Green has regularly claimed expenses up to the maximum of £400 for food. He has also claimed for the interest on his mortgage, for his council tax, and for his phone bills.


Sexual harassment and pornography allegations

During the
2017 Westminster sexual scandals A series of allegations concerning the involvement of British politicians in cases of sexual harassment and assault arose in October and November 2017. Allegations were prompted by discussions among junior staff employed in the UK Parliament at ...
revelations, a Cabinet Office inquiry was started into allegations Green sent suggestive text messages and "fleetingly" touched the knee of a young Conservative activist. He disputes this, stating it's "absolutely and completely untrue that I’ve ever made any sexual advances on Ms ateMaltby". Both Baroness Kennedy and journalist Rosamund Urwin stated that Maltby had made the claims to them over a year before making them public. Urwin published Facebook messages and time stamps, showing that Maltby had complained to her, and detailed her earlier experience with Green, within four minutes of receiving what she reported as an “inappropriate” text message from Green in 2016. During this investigation, allegations emerged that pornography had been found on Green's work computer when he was arrested over leaks in 2008. He said this was a "political smear". The police detective computer forensics expert who examined the computer when Green was arrested rebutted this in early December 2017, stating: "The computer was in Mr Green’s office, on his desk, logged in, his account, his name ... it was ridiculous to suggest anybody else could have done it". In December 2017 the police expert was being investigated by Scotland Yard for keeping copies of confidential material, unrelated to the case he was working on, and then releasing it to the public. Green denied that he downloaded or looked at such images. Green said that the claims made by the retired Bob Quick were "political smears". Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson confirmed that he was informed about the matter at the time but regarded it as a "side issue". On 20 December 2017, Green was removed from his position; it was found that he had lied to colleagues over pornography found on his computer. The report concluded that Green's conduct as a Minister had "generally been both professional and proper", but that regarding the allegations by Maltby, although the private nature of their meetings meant that it was "not possible to reach a definitive conclusion" regarding his behaviour towards her, the report found her account to be "plausible". In his resignation letter, Green said that he deeply regretted the distress to Maltby that the reaction to her article about him had caused, and although maintaining that he did not recognise the events described in it, he "clearly made her feel uncomfortable" and apologised for doing so. Theresa May had asked him to resign and accepted his resignation. She stated she had "greatly appreciated" his hard work and contribution to her team and that it was "right" that he had apologised to Maltby. A few days later, Green faced calls to stand down as an MP, following the disclosure of a "dirty tricks" campaign which appeared to target his accuser. It emerged that text messages passed to the ''
Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...
'', allegedly sent between Maltby and Green before she made her complaint, had been edited and rewritten in order to inaccurately suggest that Maltby, rather than Green, had encouraged a continued close relationship and solicited a meeting between the two. After contacting Maltby prior to publication, the ''Mail on Sunday'' corrected one series of messages and the newspaper later issued a further post-publication correction acknowledging that it had published a second forged message and falsely attributed it to her. The faked message and subsequent article falsely accused of her of having flirtatiously texted Green that she regretted his absence from his party, because in his stead one of his aides had "been smooching the room on your behalf x". The Conservative MP
Anna Soubry Anna Mary Soubry (; born 7 December 1956) is a British barrister, journalist and former politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Broxtowe from 2010 to 2019. Known for her support of pro-European policies, she was originally elected ...
, previously an ally of Green, and like him a Remain voter, told the ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' that attempts to smear Maltby were "wrong and shameful". Another Conservative MP said: "It appears that Green's allies barely paused for breath after he apologised for the distress caused to Kate Maltby before launching an attack. It smacks of a dirty tricks campaign and is unhelpful to the government when it is still dealing with the fallout of the Westminster harassment scandal." Maltby and her supporters had accused Green of also being behind a negative, anonymously-briefed attack on her written by the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' journalist
Andrew Pierce Andrew Pierce (born Patrick Connolly) is a British journalist, editor, author, broadcaster and political commentator. Early life Pierce was born in Bristol to a Roman Catholic Irish mother and an unknown father. He spent the first two years o ...
. Her parents, in a statement, responded angrily to claims made by Pierce that they disapproved of her actions and condemned "the attempted campaign in certain sections of the media to denigrate and intimidate her and other witnesses". Writing in the ''Sunday Times'', Maltby alleged that the ''Daily Mail'' attack had been coordinated by Green's team and formed part of a broader strategy of witness intimidation. Maltby alleged that two other women had intended to make allegations against Green, but "as a result" of the ''Daily Mail'' coverage of her own complaint, "immediately backed out". In May 2018, the ''Daily Mail'' paid £11,000 towards Maltby's legal costs after she prepared to go to court regarding Pierce's article. The article was removed from the ''Mail''s website without an admission of fault.


Views


Illegal immigrants

Green is an advocate of allowing illegal immigrants to return to the UK sooner. He has supported
voluntary return Voluntary return or voluntary repatriation is usually the return of an illegal immigrant or over-stayer, a rejected asylum seeker, a refugee or displaced person, or an unaccompanied minor; sometimes it is the emigration of a second-generation ...
for overstayers and other migrants in order to avoid
deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while 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".


Brexit

Green was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum.


Publications

* ''ITN Budget Factbook'', 1984, ITN * ''ITN Budget Factbook'', 1985, ITN * ''ITN Budget Factbook'', 1986, ITN * ''Better BBC: Public Service Broadcasting in the '90s'', 1990,
Centre for Policy Studies The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independ ...
* ''Freedom of the Airwaves'', 1990, CPC * ''Communities in the Countryside'', 1995. * ''The Cross Media Revolution: Ownership and Control'', Edited by Damian Green, 1995, University of Luton Press * ''Regulating the Media in the Digital Age'', 1997, European Media Forum * ''21st Century Conservatism'', 1998 * ''The Four Failures of the New Deal'', 1998, Centre for Policy Studies


References


External links


Damian Green MP
''official constituency website'' * * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Damian 1956 births Living people Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Borough of Ashford British Roman Catholics Centre-right politics in the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies First Secretaries of State of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Reading School People from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan People from Reading, Berkshire Presidents of the Oxford Union Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present