Jonathan Bullock (born 3 March 1963) is an English politician. He was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

(MEP) for the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area tradi ...

constituency until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020. He was third on the

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest ...

list for that constituency in the

2014 European election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded cand ...

, and became an MEP on 1 August 2017, succeeding

Roger Helmer Roger Helmer (born 25 January 1944) is a British politician and businessman. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands region from 1999 to 2017. Before becoming an MEP, he was a business executive. Helmer was electe ...

. He was re-elected in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

for the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant po ...

. Bullock was previously a councillor and member of the cabinet on

Kettering Borough Council Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...

and a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

parliamentary and European candidate. He resigned from the Conservative Party in September 2012 to join UKIP, but left in December 2018 and joined the Brexit Party four months later.

Early life and education

Bullock was born on 3 March 1963 in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. He attended

Nottingham High School , motto_translation = Praise to the end , address = Waverley Mount , city = Nottingham , county = Nottinghamshire , postcode = NG7 4ED , country = England , coordinates = , type = Independent day school , established = , closed = , religious ...

before studying at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

, receiving a BA (Hons) degree in politics. He is a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(FRSA).

Early career

Bullock began his career working in the House of Commons for MPs Andrew Stewart and Sir

Richard Ottaway Sir Richard Geoffrey James Ottaway (born 24 May 1945) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Croydon South from 1992 to 2015. He was previously MP for Nottingham North from 1983 to 1987. Early l ...

. He then went onto work in advertising agencies, becoming an account director responsible for a number of accounts. Subsequently he worked for the

Advertising Association The Advertising Association (AA) is a trade association representing advertisers, agencies, media and research services in the UK advertising industry. Its stated aim is to promote the “…role, rights and responsibilities of advertising and it ...

(1994–1997) and for the

British Road Federation The British Road Federation was a business organisation representing stakeholders of the road industry in the United Kingdom. The organisation was active since 1932 and ceased to exist in 2000. It represented companies and trade associations of the ...

(1997–2001), both in similar head of

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

roles. He was appointed Director of Policy at the

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK is the membership organisation for United Kingdom professionals involved in the movement of goods and people, and their associated supply chains. It is a National Council of CILT ...

in 2002, working there for five years.

Political career

For the Conservative Party, Bullock fought the Parliamentary seats of

Manchester Gorton Manchester Gorton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Labour's Afzal Khan, who was elected at the 2017 general election. It is the safest Labour seat in Greater Manchester by numerical majority an ...

(

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

) and Gedling (

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

) and the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...

in the

constituency. He was elected to

in 2007, representing the ward of Queen Eleanor & Buccleuch; in the same year he was appointed to the Cabinet of the Council, He was re-elected to Kettering Borough Council in 2011 in the same ward. Bullock moved to UKIP in 2012, citing disillusionment with

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

and the Conservative Party concerning the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, as well as the general leftward drift of the Conservative Party. For UKIP he fought the

Northamptonshire County Council Northamptonshire County Council was the county council that governed the non-metropolitan county of Northamptonshire in England. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888, recreated in 1974 by the Local Government Act 19 ...

seat of Ise in 2013 and 2017, and also the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candi ...

, where he was third on the party list. Following the retirement of Roger Helmer at the end of July 2017, Bullock moved up the list to succeed Helmer as an MEP for East Midlands on 1 August 2017. He resigned from UKIP in December 2018 over a breach of the party's constitution by leader

Gerard Batten Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament ( ...

, but remained in the

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD or EFD²) was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD ...

group in the European Parliament. He joined the

in February 2019 and was re-elected in

References

External links

European Parliament - Jonathan Bullock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullock, Jonathan Living people 1963 births UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates UK Independence Party MEPs MEPs for England 2014–2019 MEPs for England 2019–2020 Alumni of the University of Portsmouth Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Brexit Party MEPs Politicians from Nottingham