Michael Hookem (born 9 October 1953) is a British politician who served as

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, 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 S ...

(MEP) for

Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It is one of the three regions covering Northern England, alongside the North West England and North East England regio ...

from

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

to 2019. A former member of the

UK Independence Party 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 (both through defect ...

(UKIP), Hookem served as UKIP's Deputy Leader under

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 ( ...

from February 2018 until his resignation in May 2019 to run for the leadership. He also served as Spokesperson for Fisheries and Veterans Affairs from 2016 to 2019, and as Spokesperson for Defence in 2019 and previously from 2014 to 2016.

Early life

Hookem grew up in the fishing community in the east of

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

, and left school at 15. His father worked on the docks. Hookem enlisted in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

at the age of 17, and served for four years. After working in various trades he rejoined the military, serving in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

as a TA Commando Engineer for nine years.

UKIP politics

Hookem voted for the Labour Party until he became disillusioned with what he considered "a criminal Labour government". In response to his disillusionment with Labour, Hookem joined UKIP in 2008, after having for years been a Labour member. He stood as the UKIP candidate in

Kingston upon Hull East Kingston upon Hull East is a borough constituency for the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years by the first-past-the-post electoral system. The constitu ...

in the 2010 general election, and finished fourth with 2,745 votes (8%). Hookem was elected in

to the European Parliament. He had served as UKIP's regional chairman for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire until that election. He was replaced as chairman by Judith Morris from July 2014. On 6 October 2016, Hookem was involved in a fight with fellow UKIP MEP

Steven Woolfe Steven Marcus Woolfe (born 6 October 1967) is a British barrister, writer, commentator and former politician. He is currently the Director of the Centre for Migration & Economic Prosperity, a research think tank studying population and immigra ...

during a UKIP meeting at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

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. Hookem said he had not punched Woolfe, but did admit to a "scuffle" with him and that he acted in self-defence. The altercation was an outgrowth of a party meeting to discuss news reports that Woolfe was in talks about defecting to the Conservative Party. Hookem said Woolfe "took exception" to his comment about Woolfe turning his leadership application paperwork late. Hookem was asked if he would accept a suspension and Hookem said: "If they suspend me, yes. By our rules if they suspend me they have to suspend Steven Woolfe". Hookem stood as UKIP's candidate for

Great Grimsby Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

in the 2017 general election, finishing third with 1,647 votes (4.6%), losing his deposit. Following the election of Henry Bolton as leader of UKIP, Hookem was appointed assistant deputy leader as well as UKIP spokesman on fisheries and on veterans affairs. He stood down as the party's assistant deputy leader on 22 January 2018 after Bolton refused to resign as leader following a vote of no confidence in him from UKIP's National Executive Committee the previous day. Following the party's split from the EFDD Group led by UKIP's former leader,

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

, while UKIP leader

and

Stuart Agnew John Stuart Agnew (born 30 August 1949) is a British politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England region for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2009 to 2019 This was the year in which the ...

joined the

Europe of Nations and Freedom Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF; , ENL) was a far-right Political groups of the European Parliament, political group that operated in the European Parliament between 2015 and 2019. It was composed of 37 MEPs and only existed during the Eighth ...

group. He lost his seat at the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...

, which saw no UKIP candidates elected. Following his electoral defeat, Hookem resigned as deputy leader of UKIP to stand in the upcoming leadership election, following the resignation of Batten. He finished fourth in the contest, with 717 votes (13%). After leaving UKIP, Hookem helped to found the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom Party (ADF) in 2020, becoming the party’s Chairman.

Elections contested

UK Parliament European Parliament elections

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hookem, Mike 1953 births Living people 20th-century British Army personnel 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel MEPs for England 2014–2019 Politicians from Kingston upon Hull UK Independence Party MEPs UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates Royal Air Force airmen Royal Engineers soldiers British Army Commandos soldiers Labour Party (UK) people Military personnel from Kingston upon Hull British Eurosceptics