About Douglas

Douglas was first elected to Parliament in 2005 by a slender 920 votes. He was returned as MP for Clacton in 2010 with a 12,000 majority.

Co-author of best selling book, The Plan; 12-months to renew Britain , Douglas is an advocate of political reform and helped establish the Direct Democracy campaign. In 2009, The Daily Telegraph nominated him a Briton of the Year, and Spectator readers voted him Parliamentarian of the Year.

Douglas had a proper job in business before politics, working in commercial television and then fund management.

Born in 1971, Douglas' home was in Uganda until his late teens, where his parents worked as doctors amongst some of the world's poorest people. He read history at the University of East Anglia and King's College, London.

Douglas first stood for Parliament against Tony Blair, as the Conservative candidate for Sedgefield in 2001 (He apologises for coming second, but did manage to cut Blair's majority by over 7,500 votes).

Married to Clementine, with a baby daughter, Douglas is keen on swimming, running and riding. He makes jam and is an enthusiastic gardener.

Douglas co-wrote "Direct Democracy; an agenda for a new model party", which the Spectator magazine described as "One of the founding texts for the new, revitalised Toryism... written by some of the brightest young Conservative thinkers".

He blogs each day at www.TalkCarswell.com and has written for the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday, News of the World, Telegraph and Spectator, as well as appearing on the Politics Show, Newsnight, Sky and Radio 4's Week in Westminster and Westminster Hour.