Richard Townshend Coke (born 1 February 1954), known as Toby Coke and as Richard Toby Coke, is an English landowner and

forester A forester is a person who practises forest management and forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Fores ...

who served as leader 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 ...

group on

Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for Norfolk, England. Below it there are seven second-tier district councils: Breckland District, Breckland, Broadland, Borough of Great Yarmouth, Great Yarmo ...

from 2013 until 2017. Born at Weasenham, near

Great Massingham Great Massingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Great Massingham is located east of King's Lynn and north-west of Norwich. History Great Massingham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Ol ...

in Norfolk, Coke is the elder son of Major Richard Lovel Coke (1918–2001) and Molly (''née'' Fletcher), a daughter of Walter Townshend Fletcher.Charles Mosley, ed., ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'' (107th edition, 2003), vol. 1, page 641; vol. 2, p. 2289 His father was a grandson of

Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester Thomas William Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester (26 December 1822 – 24 January 1909), known as Viscount Coke from 1837 to 1842, was a British peerage, British peer. Background Leicester was the son of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh ...

(1822–1909). He was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley or the College of St. Peter at Radley, is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent boarding school) for boys near the village of Radley, in Oxfordshire, in the United Kingd ...

and Sandhurst and commissioned into the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

. After four years in the army, he followed a financial services career in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, before going to work in Canada and the United States. He returned to Norfolk to run the family estate, which consists largely of woodland, and now operates a training course at the Weasenham estate called "Extreeme Adventure."''Quarterly Journal of Forestry'', vols. 98-99 (2004), p. 299Richard Coke profile
at edp24.co.uk, accessed 4 October 2013 A

climate change denier Climate change denial (also global warming denial) is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetor ...

, Coke has said he is At the Norfolk County Council election on 2 May 2013, Coke was elected to represent the Gayton and Nar Valley

electoral division An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

and a few days later was chosen as leader of the county council's UKIP group of fifteen councillors, making him "leader of the opposition".Deborah McGurran
UKIP selects leader of the opposition in Norfolk
dated 8 May 2010 at bbc.co.uk, accessed 4 October 2013 He stood down from his seat at the

2017 Norfolk County Council election The 2017 Norfolk County Council election took place on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party won control of the council from No Overall Control. All three major parties made gains at the ...

. Coke unsuccessfully contested

Mid Norfolk Mid Norfolk is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2010 by George Freeman (po ...

for UKIP in 2010Ruth Northey, ed., ''Whitaker's Almanack 2012'' (2011), p. 167 and North West Norfolk for UKIP in 2015. He commented that before 2010 he had no involvement in politics apart from "dabbling in parish politics".

Private life

On 19 November 1996 in the United States, Coke married Carrie-Lee Early, an attorney, the daughter of Neil Early, of New York.

Notes

External links

Richard Toby Coke
at norfolk.gov.uk (official web site) {{DEFAULTSORT:Coke, Richard Toby 1954 births Richard Toby Councillors in Norfolk Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Living people Members of Norfolk County Council People educated at Radley College People from Breckland District Scots Guards officers 21st-century English landowners English foresters UK Independence Party councillors UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates Military personnel from Norfolk