Damian is a respected expert on digital regulation issues in the UK and internationally.  He leads the firm’s public policy practice in London. He is a former British government Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, with responsibility for online harms, digital competition and AI safety. He played a leading role in the passage of the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act and Online Safety Act through Parliament.  

The development of digital regulation in the UK and EU has a strong policy dimension. At Geradin Partners, Damian helps tech, media and telecoms companies, and other organisations, to understand and influence the political and regulatory environment in these areas, which can change quickly and in complex ways.

Damian was a Member of Parliament for 14 years.  He chaired the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, leading major inquiries into social media disinformation and the impact of addictive and immersive technologies. In 2021, he chaired the Joint Committee of the House of Lords and House of Commons which led the scrutiny of the UK’s Online Safety Act.

He is currently a visiting Senior Fellow the Centre for Media, Democracy and Technology at the Max Bell Public Policy School at McGill University in Canada.  In 2018, he launched and became the first Chair of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Fake News which brought together over thirty parliamentarians from more than a dozen countries. He also works with the Meliore Foundation in Brussels on an international network of current and recent former parliamentarians focused on sharing insights on digital regulation. He is a non-executive board member at the Center for Countering Digital Hate and at Orbis Business Intelligence.

Damian was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his political and public service in the King’s Birthday Honours List 2023.

• 2024-Present: Senior Fellow at the Centre for Media, Democracy and Technology, McGill University
• 2024-Present: Non-executive board director at Orbis Business Intelligence
• 2022: Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy
• 2021-2022: Chair of the Joint Committee on the Online Safety Bill
• 2018-2021: Chair of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Fake News
• 2016-2019: Chair of DCMS Select Committee
• 2014-2015: Parliamentary Private Secretary, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• 2010-2014: Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe

• History at the University of Oxford

English

Damian regularly speaks at conferences internationally, including for example the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, the Cambridge Disinformation Summit, the Thomson Reuters International Journalism festival in Perugia, and the Political Tech Summit in Berlin. He has written on politics and tech for publications such as the New York Times, The Times, Wired, The Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard.

Damian is a published author.  His first book, Charmed Life, the phenomenal world of Philip Sassoon was published by HarperCollins in 2016.  He has also written about David Lloyd George and Theodore Roosevelt for Iain Dale’s books, The Prime Ministers and The Presidents. Damian’s latest book is a biography of David Lloyd George, which was published by Bloomsbury in 2024.

Damian is the festival director of the Fleet Street Festival of Words.  He is the host of the Infotagion podcast, which discusses the interface between government, politics, the media and technology.