Brendan Donnelly (politician)

Last updated
Brendan Donnelly
Brendan Donnelly - Mathias Corvinus Collegium, 2014.05.16 (7).JPG
Donnelly in 2014
Born
Brendan Patrick Donnelly

(1950-08-25) 25 August 1950 (age 73)
Education Christ Church, Oxford
Occupations
Known for Pro-Europeanism
Political party
  • Rejoin EU (since 2021)
Other political
affiliations

Brendan Patrick Donnelly (born 25 August 1950) is a pro-European Union British politician and former member of the European Parliament.

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. [4]

Donnelly is director of the Federal Trust and, until 6 March 2010, was chair of the Federal Union, 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">Gary Titley</span> British politician (born 1950)

Gary Titley is a British Labour Party politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North West of England.

<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 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Rob Butler of the Conservative 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.

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">Liberal Democrats (UK)</span> British political party

The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1988. They have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election. They have 15 members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 84 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has nearly 3,000 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' conference rules, the Lib Dems grant all members attending its Conference the right to speak in debates and vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online for its policies and in the election of a new leader. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007; and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Conservatives and Reformists</span> European Parliament political group

The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti-federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party European political party (formerly known as the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe or Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, but also includes MEPs from four other European parties and thirteen MEPs without European party affiliation.

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

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%).

<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.

Alex Smith is a former Scottish politician who served in the European Parliament.

Michael Hindley is a British politician who served in the European Parliament.

Anthony Joseph Wilson is a British politician who served as a member of the European Parliament.

Bryan Michael Deece Cassidy was a British politician who served in the European Parliament from 1984 to 1999.

<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.

This article lists the election results of the Brexit Party, known since 2021 as Reform UK, in UK parliamentary elections and in elections to the European Parliament.

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.