Tim Collins (politician)

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Tim Collins
Westmorland and Lonsdale
In office
1 May 1997 – 11 April 2005
Preceded byMichael Jopling
Succeeded byTim Farron
Personal details
Born (1964-05-07) 7 May 1964 (age 59)
Epping, Essex, England
Political partyConservative
Children1
Alma materLondon School of Economics
King's College London

Timothy William George Collins,

Westmorland and Lonsdale in north-west England from 1997 until his defeat at the 2005 general election by Tim Farron, later leader of the Liberal Democrats.[1]

Education

Collins was educated at Chigwell School, the London School of Economics (BSc) and King's College London (MA).[2]

Political career

Collins had significant political experience before his election to

Norman Fowler and Brian Mawhinney
.

Collins was appointed a

Birthday Honours List
in 1996, at the age of 32. The award was given 'for political services'.

According to The

Westmorland and Lonsdale, then considered a safe seat for the Conservatives, at 1997 general election "partly through his family's farming background, but more by his endorsement from John Major.[3] When elected to parliament in 1997, Collins was the second youngest Conservative MP, after Graham Brady who was three years his junior.[4]

During his time in Parliament, Collins served as a Whip and later as a Senior Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party. In this role, in the run up to the 2001 election, Collins was a senior aide to the then Conservative leader William Hague. Collins supported the focus on tax cuts and opposition to the Euro that characterised that campaign.

After the election, the new Conservative leader

Shadow Transport Secretary. When Michael Howard became leader in 2003 he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education
.

In this post, he developed policies to give anonymity for accused teachers until a court trial, to allow successful schools to expand and to stop the closure of schools for children with Special Educational Needs.[5][6]

At the 2005 general election, he lost his seat to Liberal Democrat Tim Farron, by a margin of 267 votes. It has been suggested that this was due to a Liberal Democrat "decapitation" strategy which was aimed at unseating senior Conservative candidates.[7]

In 2006, he was reported to be part of the so-called "

A-List" of priority parliamentary candidates whom the Conservative leadership most wish to see in Parliament after the next general election, but, in April 2008, the ConservativeHome website[8]
reported that he left the Conservative candidate list, quoting him as saying "I firmly now do not wish to return to the House of Commons".

Lobbyist

In October 2009, Collins was appointed Managing Director of

Dyson Limited
"because we asked him to".

Television

Collins is a

science-fiction television programme Doctor Who
, and has appeared on television several times to discuss the programme.

In a 2003

Cybermen were more convincing when the Conservatives were in power. He was also reported to have read The Dying Days in one sitting on the night of the 1997 general election so that he could claim to have read the whole New Adventures series while the Conservatives were in government.[13]

Collins has also appeared as a guest on a number of current affairs programmes since leaving Parliament.

References

  1. ^ "Tim Collins". 16 October 2002. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  2. ^ ‘COLLINS, Timothy William George’, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014
  3. ISBN 0-415-18541-6
    .
  4. ISBN 0-415-18541-6
    .
  5. ^ "Behaviour problems strain schools". BBC. 12 October 2004. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  6. ^ Curtis, Polly (13 December 2004). "Tories seek greater protection for accused teachers". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  7. ^ Robert Waller & Byron Criddle (2007). The Almanac of British Politics (8th ed.). p. 15. Tim Collins proved to be the only high-profile victim of the 'decapitation strategy' against leading Conservative figures
  8. ^ "ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog: Where are the original A-Listers now? The 27 who are no longer looking for a seat".
  9. ^ Timothy William George Collins works at BELL POTTINGER LLP since 1 January 2013 currently as a LLPMEM - http://www.cbetta.com/director/timothy-william-george-collins-3
  10. ^ "Bell Pottinger Top Lobbyist David Sowells Set for USA Move". PR Week. London. 16 September 2009.
  11. ^ Newman, Melanie; Wright, Oliver (6 December 2011). "Caught on camera: top lobbyists boasting how they influence the PM". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  12. ^ "Conservatives under pressure to explain links to lobbying firms". The Daily Telegraph. London. 6 December 2011.
  13. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/dyingdays/intro/page1.shtml[permanent dead link], Author's Introduction, Dying Days, Lance Parkin

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Westmorland & Lonsdale
1997 – 2005
 Succeeded by
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