Alex Wilson | |
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![]() Wilson in 2024 | |
Leader of Reform UK in the London Assembly | |
Assumed office 6 May 2024 | |
Leader | Richard Tice Nigel Farage |
Preceded by | Office established |
Member of the London Assembly for Londonwide | |
Assumed office 6 May 2024 | |
Member of Redbridge London Borough Council for Wanstead | |
In office 23 April 2009 –22 May 2014 | |
Personal details | |
Born | February 1984 (age 41) London,England |
Political party | Reform UK (since 2021) |
Other political affiliations | Conservative (1999–2020) |
Alexander James Wilson (born February 1984) is a British politician and businessman,serving as a Member of the London Assembly (AM) for Londonwide since 2024. He is a member of Reform UK. He was previously a member of the Conservative Party for over twenty years and was an elected Conservative Party councillor.
Wilson was initially a member of the Conservative Party,serving as a Conservative councillor on Redbridge London Borough Council from 2009 to 2014. [1] [2] Whilst serving as a councillor he was forced to resign from his cabinet position after implying he had been accused of not dedicating enough time to his portfolio. [3]
In 2020,after 21 years as a Conservative Party member,Wilson quit the party and defected to Reform UK. Explaining his decision,he told the Evening Standard :"Lockdown was what drove me out [of the Tories],but then since then,it's high tax,it's net zero,it's not controlling the borders - it's all these kinds of issues which make me not even want to think about going back." [4]
Wilson ran in the North East constituency at the 2021 London Assembly election,coming fifth with 4,251 votes (1.9%). [5] [6] He later contested the June 2021 Chesham and Amersham by-election,receiving 1.1% of all votes cast. [7] [8]
At the 2022 Redbridge London Borough Council election,he came second-to-last in the Bridge ward,polling 274 votes. [9] [10]
For the 2024 London Assembly election,Wilson stood in Havering and Redbridge,coming third,and receiving 19,696 votes. [11] [12] He was also the lead candidate on the Reform list for the London-wide region,and was the party's only candidate to be elected. [13] At the time of his election,Wilson had been working as a pollster for Reform. [14]
Wilson was the Reform candidate for Ilford North in the 2024 UK general election,where he finished fourth with 3,621 votes. [15]
Wilson is the sole director of Psephos Consulting,a public relations and communications firm specialised in the development industry. [16] [17]
Cabinet Member for Planning and Public Protection (November 2012 - December 2013) - with executive responsibility for the Borough's planning policy and development management processes, as well as its public protection functions relating to trading standards, licensing and public safety. Served on and chaired a number of the Council's committees covering a range of service areas. Elected to serve as ward councillor for Wanstead in April 2009 (by-election) and re-elected in 2010 with an increased majority.
Where other parties used internal polling and focus groups, Reform relied on a single nerdy activist: Alex Wilson, dubbed the "John Curtice of Reform" (in reference to a well-known British polling guru) because of his fondness for data and spreadsheets.