Brendan Donnelly (politician)

Last updated
Brendan Donnelly
Brendan Donnelly - Mathias Corvinus Collegium, 2014.05.16 (7).JPG
Donnelly in 2014
Leader of Rejoin EU
Assumed office
2024
Other political
affiliations
Education Christ Church, Oxford
Occupation
Known for Pro-Europeanism

Brendan Patrick Donnelly (born 25 August 1950) is a British pro-European Union politician who has been the leader of Rejoin EU since 2024. Donnelly previously served as the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Sussex South and Crawley constituency from 1994 to 1999.

Background

Born in London, Donnelly was educated at St Ignatius' College in Tottenham, and then at Christ Church, Oxford. He worked at the Foreign Office from 1976 until 1982, when he joined the secretariat of the Conservative Group in the European Parliament. From 1986 to 1987, he was a political adviser to Lord Cockfield, and then from 1987 to 1990 worked as an independent consultant on the European Community. At the 1989 European Parliament election, he stood unsuccessfully for the Conservatives in London West. [1]

Donnelly was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in Sussex South and Crawley at the 1994 European Parliament election for the Conservative Party. He then left the party, continued as an independent for a period, and then co-founded and became deputy leader of the Pro-Euro Conservative Party at the 1999 European elections. [2]

He failed to get elected and subsequently joined the Liberal Democrats. He stood in the 2009 European elections under the Yes2Europe political label. [3] He stood in the 2014 European elections for the 4 Freedoms Party (UK EPP). He stood in the 2021 London Assembly election for Rejoin EU. He was unsuccessful in each case. He stood for Rejoin EU in the June 2021 Chesham and Amersham by-election, and also ran in Finchley and Golders Green (UK Parliament constituency) for the 2024 United Kingdom general election. [4]

Donnelly is director of the Federal Trust, and was chair of the Federal Union until 6 March 2010, when he was succeeded by Richard Laming.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pro-Euro Conservative Party</span> Political party

The Pro-Euro Conservative Party was a minor, Pro-European British political party, announced by John Stevens and Brendan Donnelly in February 1999, formed to contest the 1999 European Parliament election. The founders were Members of the European Parliament who had resigned from the UK Conservative Party in protest at its anti-euro stance. Their reported aim was to replace Eurosceptic William Hague as Conservative leader with Europhile Kenneth Clarke. Stevens later said that they had intended to push Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine, Chris Patten and other pro-Europeans in the Conservative Party into "an SDP-style breakaway, in combination with the Liberal Democrats". The Pro-Euro Conservative Party disbanded in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom</span>

The 1999 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's part of the European Parliament election 1999. It was held on 10 June 1999. Following the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, it was the first European election to be held in the United Kingdom where the whole country used a system of proportional representation. In total, 87 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom across twelve new regional constituencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Martin (Scottish politician)</span>

David Martin is a Scottish politician who has served as co-convener of the Citizens' Assembly of Scotland since 2019. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 2019, having first represented the Lothians constituency until 1999 and then for the Scotland constituency. He was the United Kingdom's longest serving MEP and the second longest serving MEP in the whole European Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aylesbury (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1801 onwards

Aylesbury is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, currently represented by Laura Kyrke-Smith, a member of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesham and Amersham (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1974 onwards

Chesham and Amersham is a parliamentary constituency in Buckinghamshire, South East England, represented in the House of Commons by Sarah Green, a Liberal Democrat elected at a 2021 by-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South East England (European Parliament constituency)</span> Former European Parliament constituency

South East England was a constituency of the European Parliament. It elected 10 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation until the UK exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020.

Hugh Kerr is a Scottish politician and a former lecturer in social policy at the Polytechnic of North London. He was elected a Labour Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in June 1994 to represent the euro-constituency of Essex West & Hertfordshire East until 1999.

John Edward Tomlinson, Baron Tomlinson was a British Labour Co-operative politician. He served as a life peer in the House of Lords from 1998 until his death, and had previously been a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1979, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Teverson, Baron Teverson</span> British politician (born 1952)

Robin Teverson, Baron Teverson is a Liberal Democrat politician, and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clive Needle</span>

Clive Needle is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Norfolk from 1994 to 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stevens (English politician)</span> British politician

John Christopher Courtenay Stevens is a British politician. A Conservative Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1999, he contested the Buckingham constituency in the 2010 general election as an independent, against Commons speaker John Bercow and came second with 10,331 votes (21.4%) compared to Bercow's 22,860 (47.3%).

Christine Margaret Oddy was an English politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom</span> Election

The 2014 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2014 European Parliament election, held on Thursday 22 May 2014, coinciding with the 2014 local elections in England and Northern Ireland. In total, 73 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom using proportional representation. England, Scotland and Wales use a closed-list party list system of PR, while Northern Ireland used the single transferable vote (STV).

Graham Christopher Spencer Mather CBE is a British former Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance EPP: European People's Party UK</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The Alliance EPP: European People's Party UK, also known as UK EPP and the 4 Freedoms Party, is a pro-European Union, centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. It first contested an election at the 2014 European Parliament elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom</span> 2019 election of members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom

The 2019 European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2019 European Parliament election. It was held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results announced on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 May 2019, after all the other EU countries had voted. This was the United Kingdom's final participation in a European Parliament election before leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020; it was also the last election to be held under the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 before its repeal under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, and was the first European election in the United Kingdom since 1999 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. This was the first of two national elections held in the United Kingdom in 2019; the 2019 general election occurred six-and-a-half months later in December 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK European Union Party</span> Pro-European British political party

The UK European Union Party was a minor pro-European political party in the United Kingdom, founded by lawyer Pierre Kirk in the prelude to the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom. The party was founded due to a perceived weak concentration on opposing Brexit by other pro-EU parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Heaver</span> British former politician (born 1989)

Michael Eric Heaver is a British broadcaster and former politician. He was elected as a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England constituency in the 2019 election and served in that role until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU. Previously, he was the chair of the UK Independence Party (UKIP)'s youth wing, Young Independence.

A by-election was held in the United Kingdom Parliament constituency of Chesham and Amersham on 17 June 2021, following the death of the sitting member, Dame Cheryl Gillan, on 4 April 2021. Gillan had served as MP for the constituency since 1992. The by-election was the third to the 58th Parliament, which was elected in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volt UK</span> British political party

Volt United Kingdom, commonly known as Volt UK, is a pro-European political party in the United Kingdom. It is the British branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level.

References

  1. BBC-Vacher's Biographical Guide 1996. London: BBC Political Research Unit and Vacher's Publications. 1996. pp. 6–10. ISBN   0951520857.
  2. "BBC News | Parties and Issues | Pro-Euro Conservative Party". news.bbc.co.uk.
  3. "UKPollingReport Election Guide 2010 » London European Elections". Archived from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  4. "Chesham and Amersham by-election – Rejoin EU". 14 June 2021.