John Bickley (politician)

Jonathan Bickley (born 1953) is a politician who is a member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) National Executive Committee, party treasurer, immigration Spokesman and perennial parliamentary by-election candidate.

Early life

Bickley grew up in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester,^[1] moving away when he was sixteen.^[2] He first became politically active in 2013, as a member of UKIP.^[3]

UKIP politician

UKIP chose Bickley to stand in the Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency Bickley based his campaign on Parliament needing to "take responsibility" having "outsourced running of the country to the EU". Bickley added that he felt "Labour had let down the working class" and that Labour's behaviour would mean his former trade unionist father would be "turning in his grave".^[4]

In 2015 Bickley was chosen to contest the by-election in the Heywood and Middleton constituency. It was held on the same day as the Clacton by-election, which saw UKIP return its first every MP. UKIP candidate John Bickley distributed a leaflet in which he said "Labour's betrayal is no more apparent than with the young white working-class girls of Rotherham and Rochdale where rather than upset immigrant communities, years of abuse were ignored and complaints swept under the carpet". During an interview on Daily Politics, after the leaflet was called "divisive" by his Labour opponent Liz McInnes, Bickley criticised McInnes for publishing a leaflet with the heading "WAITING TO DIE" after the death of Jim Dobbin, saying it was landing on the doorsteps of the terminally ill.^[5] The Labour Party narrowly held the seat following a recount.

Bickley again contested the seat in the 2015 general election. It was a key target seat for UKIP, however the Labour Party managed to hold on to the seat relatively successfully with a 10.0% majority over UKIP. It was their sixth best result at the election.

Bickley was chosen to contest the Oldham West and Royton by-election following the death of its MP Michael Meacher. UKIP were a strong second in the constituency at the election. The result however was disappoting, with only a very slight increase in their share of the vote.

On the morning after the by-election, UKIP leader Nigel Farage and some other party sources claimed that there had been voting fraud particularly around ethnic minority voters and around postal votes,^[6][7][8] with Farage claiming the vote was "bent" and that in constituencies with large numbers of ethnic minority voters who do not speak English "effectively the electoral process is now dead".^[8][9] Paul Nuttall, UKIP's deputy leader, said to journalists: "You've got to ask yourself, is this Britain or is this Harare?"^[10] However, others in UKIP downplayed the allegations,^[11] with deputy chairman Suzanne Evans saying the party risks sounding like "bad losers".^[10] Tom Watson, Labour's deputy leader, dismissed the complaints as "sour grapes".^[9]

Farage stated that he was planning to make a formal complaint about the allegations.^[12][13] Deputy leader Paul Nuttall wrote an open letter to Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government, raising concerns about postal voting processes.^[14]

Following Paul Nuttall been elected as UKIP leader, Bickley was given the position of party immigration spokesperson. He said, "I’m delighted that Paul Nuttall has asked me to take responsibility for this hugely important role. I have seen with my own eyes the devastating impact of uncontrolled unskilled immigration on our communities. UKIP is, was and will be in favour of immigration but it must be immigration on the UK’s terms."

References