Rupert Oliver Matthews (born 5 December 1961) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as the

Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner The Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner, an elected official tasked with setting out the way crime is tackled by Leicestershire Police in the English counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The post ...

since 2021. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

from June 2017 until his term ended on 1 July 2019, and has authored books on the paranormal.

Career

Matthews was educated at

Esher Grammar School Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up ...

and worked as a freelance writer and journalist. He has written over 170 books on history, ghosts, cryptozoology, UFOs, paranormal activity, guides to the UK and children's stories. Matthews is the editorial director and a shareholder of Bretwalda Books. Matthews has also run an online course about the paranormal for the International Metaphysical University, on whose website he was described as a 'Professor' until mid-January 2012.

Politics

He served as a councillor for St Mark's ward in

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

in Kingston upon Thames, and at the 1997 general election he stood for the Conservatives in the safe Labour constituency of Bootle. Matthews was selected as a Conservative candidate for the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

and was placed third on the Conservative

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

for the

. He was not elected. On 12 October 2011, Roger Helmer, an

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

for the East Midlands constituency, announced that he would resign from the European Parliament at the end of the year. He expected to be replaced by Matthews, who was in next position on the Conservative party list in the East Midlands. However, after uncertainty was expressed as to whether the party would approve Matthews as the new MEP, Helmer announced he would delay standing down until the position was clarified and Matthews confirmed as his successor. The Conservative Party was reported to be looking into the fact that golliwog dolls featured on the front cover of a book on

political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

published by Bretwalda Books. It was later reported that Matthews was not personally involved in publishing the book. In March 2012, Helmer defected to UKIP and remained an MEP; he was re-elected in 2014. For 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 candid ...

Matthews was again placed third on the Conservative party list for the East Midlands and, again, missed being elected. In 2014, Matthews took up a position as National Campaigns Director at Better Off Out. He led Better Off Out's campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, liaising with the official campaign ( Vote Leave) as well as with Leave.EU and

Grassroots Out Grassroots Out (GO) was an organisation funded by Arron Banks that campaigned in favour of EU withdrawal in the 2016 referendum on EU membership in the United Kingdom. The organisation was formed in January 2016, as a result of infighting bet ...

. During this time, he supervised the production of leaflets, posters and other campaign materials as well as organising their distribution to the public in the run-up to the

2016 European Union membership referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

. He finally became an MEP for the East Midlands on 29 June 2017, replacing Andrew Lewer after Lewer was elected to the House of Commons. Matthews was not elected in the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

. He reportedly believed at one time that the Treaty of Lisbon could have enabled the European Commission to invade Britain were the country ever to attempt to leave the European Union, or have enabled the Commission to request a German panzer (tank) division be sent to London were the situation to warrant it. Matthews was elected in 2021 as

for the Conservative Party, succeeding the incumbent, The Lord Bach, who was stepping down.

Selected bibliography

*''Monster Mysteries'' with

Bernard Long Bernard Long (born 1926) was a British book illustrator and comic artist who contributed many episodes of "Fliptail the Otter" to '' Jack and Jill'' in the 1970s. Books illustrated by Bernard Long * ''Prehistoric Animals'', by Rupert Oliver (Lo ...

(Hove, England: Wayland, 1988 ) *''The First Settlements'' with Bernard Long (Hove, England: Wayland, 1990 ) *''Alien Encounters'' (Chartwell Books, Inc., 2009 )

References

External links

RupertMatthews.org.ukRupert Matthews , Conservative Home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Rupert 1961 births Living people People from Epsom and Ewell (district) English science fiction writers English writers on paranormal topics Paranormal investigators Conservative Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 2014–2019