Timothy William George Collins,CBE (born 7 May 1964) is a British politician, once a prominent member of theConservative Party. Collins was active in the 1990s and was later theMember of Parliament (MP) forWestmorland and Lonsdale in north-westEngland from1997 until his defeat at the2005 general election byTim Farron, later leader of theLiberal Democrats.^[1]

Collins was educated atChigwell School, theLondon School of Economics (BSc) andKing's College London (MA).^[2]

Collins had significant political experience before his election toParliament. He acted asPress secretary to the thenPrime MinisterJohn Major, serving in that role during the successful1992 general election campaign. He was a member of the10 Downing StreetPolicy Unit and was a speechwriter toMargaret Thatcher, John Major,William Hague,David Hunt,Michael Howard,Chris Patten,Norman Fowler andBrian Mawhinney.

Collins was appointed aCBE in theBirthday Honours List in 1996, at the age of 32. The award was given 'for political services'.

According toTheAlmanac of British Politics, Collins was selected to fightWestmorland and Lonsdale, then considered a safe seat for the Conservatives, at1997 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, afterGraham Brady who was three years his junior.^[4]

During his time in Parliament, Collins served as aWhip and later as aSenior Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party. In this role, in the run up to the2001 election, Collins was a senior aide to the then Conservative leader William Hague. Collins supported the focus on tax cuts and opposition to theEuro that characterised that campaign.

Following the election, the new Conservative leaderIain Duncan Smith appointed him to theshadow cabinet asShadow Minister for the Cabinet Office later moving him toShadow Secretary of State for Transport. WhenMichael Howard became leader in 2003 he was appointedShadow 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 the2005 general election, he lost his seat toLiberal DemocratTim 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 wished to see in Parliament after the next general election, but, in April 2008, theConservativeHome 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".

In October 2009, Collins was appointed Managing Director ofBell Pottinger^[9] Public Affairs, one of the UK's largest lobbying companies, replacing David Sowells and reporting to Chairman Peter Bingle.^[10] BPPA is part ofChime Communications plc, created and chaired byLord Bell, the former advertising and communications adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the 1970s and 1980s. In the December 2009 edition ofPA News, a magazine covering the lobbying industry, Shadow Arts MinisterEd Vaizey MP praised the hiring of Collins, saying he had "a huge brain" and would be "a huge asset" to the company. In the same issue, Charles Lewington, MD of consultancy Hanover, said it was "a smart hire by Tim Bell" while the man who beat Collins in 2005, Liberal Democrat MPTim Farron, said it was "very good news for Bell Pottinger". In December 2011,The Independent claimed^[11][12] that Collins had been filmed by theBureau of Investigative Journalism saying that PMDavid Cameron had raised a copyright issue with Chinese premierWen Jiabao on behalf ofDyson Limited "because we asked him to".

Collins is afan of the Britishscience-fiction television programmeDoctor Who, and has appeared on television several times to discuss the programme.

In a 2003DVD documentaryPutting the Shock into Earthshock (included as part of theBBC Worldwide DVD release of theDoctor Who serialEarthshock), he jokingly stated that theCybermen were more convincing when the Conservatives were in power. He was also reported to have readThe Dying Days in one sitting on the night of the1997 general election so that he could claim to have read the wholeNew 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.

• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Tim Collins
• They Work For You - Tim Collins MP

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