The UK Independence Party is a Eurosceptic,right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s,when it gained two members of parliament and was the largest party representing the UK in the European Parliament. UKIP's visibility and success was chiefly associated with two-time leader Nigel Farage;since his second departure in 2016,the party has seen a steep decline in support and eleven different leaders,the most recent being Lois Perry who resigned after just 34 days. Following Perry’s resignation,the party has been led in the interim by Nick Tenconi since June 2024.
Nigel Paul Farage is a British politician and broadcaster who has been the leader of Reform UK since June 2024,having previously been its leader from 2019 to 2021. He was the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009,and 2010 to 2016. Farage served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in 2020.
Gerard Joseph Batten is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993,and served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London from 2004 to 2019.
David Campbell Bannerman is a British politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England from 2009 to 2019. He is currently Chairman of the Conservative Democratic Organisation and The Freedom Association. A member of the Conservative Party,he previously served as Deputy Leader of UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 until 2010,when he was replaced by Paul Nuttall.
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).
Diane Martine James is a British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2019. She was briefly leader-elect of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from September 2016 to October 2016,but resigned before formalising her leadership. At the time of her election to the European Parliament,James was one of three UKIP MEPs for South East England,before joining the Brexit Party in 2019.
Jane Maria Collins is a British politician and horse show-jumper who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber from 2014 to 2019. She was elected in May 2014 as a member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP),but defected to the Brexit Party in 2019 in the last months of her membership of the European Parliament.
Janice Ann Atkinson is a former British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament for the South East England region. She formerly represented the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and later sat as an independent:she was elected in 2014,second on the list for the region behind Nigel Farage. In March 2015,she was expelled from UKIP for "bringing the party into disrepute" after her chief of staff was recorded trying to fraudulently inflate her expenses.
Patrick James O'Flynn is an English journalist and Social Democratic Party (SDP) politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England from 2014 to 2019. He was elected for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) but defected to the Social Democratic Party in November 2018. Since 2019 he has written frequently for The Spectator.
Louise Bours,also known as Louise van de Bours,is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North West England region. She was elected in 2014 as a UK Independence Party candidate but resigned from the party 2018,and sat as an independent until she stood down at the 2019 election.
Michael Hookem is a British politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber from 2014 to 2019.
William Milroy Etheridge is an English politician who was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands region. He was elected in 2014 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate,but left the party in October 2018 and joined the Libertarian Party. He joined the Brexit Party in 2019 but rejoined UKIP in September 2020. He unsuccessfully stood for UKIP leader in 2016,and 2024.
On 3 December 2015,a by-election was held in the UK Parliamentary constituency of Oldham West and Royton in Greater Manchester. This was the first by-election of the 56th UK Parliament.
The September 2016 UK Independence Party leadership election was triggered after Nigel Farage,the leader of the UK Independence Party,announced on 4 July 2016,following the Leave result in the UK referendum on EU membership,that he would step down when a new leader had been elected.
The November 2016 UK Independence Party leadership election took place following the announcement on 4 October 2016 by Diane James,the leader-elect of the UK Independence Party,that she would not accept the leadership of the party,despite winning the leadership election 18 days earlier. Nigel Farage,whom James was to succeed after the previous leadership election following his resignation,was selected the next day to serve as interim leader.
There was a by-election in the British parliamentary constituency of Copeland on 23 February 2017,following the resignation of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Jamie Reed. Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison gained the seat from Labour,the first gain for a governing party in a by-election since 1982.
There was a by-election in the constituency of Stoke-on-Trent Central on 23 February 2017 following the resignation of Labour's Tristram Hunt,who became director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It took place alongside a by-election in Copeland.
The 2017 UK Independence Party leadership election was called following the resignation of Paul Nuttall as leader of the UK Independence Party on 9 June 2017,following the poor performance of the party in the 2017 general election. Former party chairman Steve Crowther was chosen three days later to serve as interim leader.
The 2018 UK Independence Party leadership election was triggered after members voted to remove Henry Bolton as leader of the UK Independence Party at an extraordinary general meeting held in Birmingham on 17 February 2018. It was the fourth UKIP leadership election in eighteen months. Interim leader Gerard Batten was ultimately elected unopposed as the party's new leader.
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in November 2018 as the Brexit Party,advocating a no-deal Brexit,it won the 2019 European Parliament election in the UK,but did not win any seats at the 2019 general election. The UK withdrew from the European Union (EU) in January 2020. A year later,in January 2021,the party was renamed Reform UK. During the COVID-19 pandemic the party advocated against further lockdowns. Since 2022,it has campaigned on a broader platform,in particular pledging to reduce net migration,supporting low taxation,and opposing the government's net-zero energy policy. Following Nigel Farage's resumption of the party leadership in early June during the 2024 general election campaign,opinion pollsters and analysts reported an increase in support for the party.
