23 Facts About Tim Montgomerie

Tim Montgomerie is best known as the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice and as creator of the ConservativeHome website, which he edited from 2005 until 2013, when he left to join The Times.

Tim Montgomerie was formerly the newspaper's comment editor, but resigned in March 2014.

On 17 February 2016, Montgomerie resigned his membership of the Conservative Party, citing the leadership's stance on Europe, which was then supportive of EU membership.

Tim Montgomerie was born into an army family in Barnstaple in 1970.

Tim Montgomerie said in a Guardian interview that "his teenage Thatcherism was tempered by discovering evangelical Christianity at sixteen".

Tim Montgomerie was educated at the King's School, a secondary school in Gutersloh, Germany run by Service Children's Education for children of military personnel.

Tim Montgomerie then attended the University of Exeter, where he studied Economics and Geography, and ran the Conservative Association with Robert Halfon, Sajid Javid and David Burrowes, all future Conservative members of parliament.

Tim Montgomerie has since reversed his position on those issues.

Tim Montgomerie served as Director of the CCF from 1990 to 2003.

Tim Montgomerie worked briefly at the Bank of England in the 1990s as a statistician, where his responsibilities included the Russian economy and the study of systemic risk in financial systems.

From 1998 to 2003, Tim Montgomerie was the speech-writer for two Conservative Party leaders, William Hague, and then Iain Duncan Smith.

Tim Montgomerie had responsibility for the Conservative Party's outreach to faith communities and the voluntary sector.

In September 2003, Tim Montgomerie became Conservative Party leader Duncan Smith's Chief of Staff; Duncan Smith was replaced by Michael Howard two months later.

Tim Montgomerie had become a main influence behind Duncan Smith's theme of compassionate conservatism.

In 2004, with Iain Duncan Smith and Philippa Stroud, Tim Montgomerie established the Centre for Social Justice to take forward the work on "compassionate conservatism" that Smith had begun as party leader.

Tim Montgomerie established a social action project called "Renewing One Nation" which helped Duncan Smith focus on these issues.

On 28 March 2005, Tim Montgomerie launched the ConservativeHome website in the period just before the general election campaign that year.

Tim Montgomerie supported the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales arguing that it was a way to strengthen the institution more generally.

Tim Montgomerie was a director of the internet television channel 18 Doughty Street which began broadcasting in October 2006 and went off air in November 2007.

Tim Montgomerie continued to edit ConservativeHome alongside others including co-editor Jonathan Isaby, assistant editor Joseph Willits, deputy editor Matthew Barrett, and Isaby's replacement, former Conservative MP Paul Goodman After the 2010 general election Tim Montgomerie wrote a report that was critical of David Cameron's election campaign, entitled "Falling short".

Tim Montgomerie wrote that a tweet critical of the Daily Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher had started the attacks.

In February 2013, Montgomerie announced that in April that year he would join The Times as comment editor, replacing Anne Spackman, but maintained a role as an "advisor" and weekly blogger for ConservativeHome.

In September 2019, Tim Montgomerie was appointed as "social justice adviser" to the Prime Minister in Number 10 Downing Street.