Philip Proudfoot | |
---|---|
Leader of the Northern Independence Party | |
In office 21 October 2020 –22 July 2022 | |
Personal details | |
Born | [1] County Durham, England | 28 November 1987
Political party | Green Party |
Other political affiliations | Labour Party (until 2020) Northern Independence Party (until 2023) |
Residence(s) | Brighton, East Sussex, England |
Alma mater | London School of Economics (PhD) [2] |
Occupation | University lecturer |
Profession | Academic |
Philip Proudfoot (born 28 November 1987) is an English anthropologist. Born and raised in County Durham, he is the founder and, until 2022, was the leader of the Northern Independence Party (NIP), which campaigns against what it sees as political and economic centralisation in the UK. It advocates that Northern England becomes an independent country under its historic name, "Northumbria". [3] He also lectures at the University of Sussex. [4]
A former member of the Labour Party, Proudfoot formed the NIP in response to Keir Starmer's leadership and what he sees as the treatment of the North during the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] He told Big Issue North that the centralisation of power in London had played a part as well, highlighting the North–South divide in healthcare, transport, education, and general standard of living as motivating factors. [6] He has said that, at the 2024 general election, he hopes to stand for the NIP in Sedgefield, the former constituency of Tony Blair, should party members select him. [7] [ unreliable source? ]
Proudfoot lives in Brighton and Hove, having moved there due to a lack of job opportunities in his field in County Durham. [8] In response to critics wondering why someone living in the South of England would support Northern independence, he said that this is an issue which epitomises the North–South divide: younger people from the North of England having to leave their hometowns to find work in cities, predominantly in the South. [4]
On 25 April 2022, the actress Tracy-Ann Oberman announced that she had agreed to pay Proudfoot substantial damages after falsely accusing him of antisemitism. [9]
On 22 July 2022, Proudfoot announced his resignation as leader of the NIP "due to professional commitments". [10] On 19 November 2023, he announced that he had joined the Green Party, citing its support for a ceasefire in Gaza, among other policies. [11]
Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham.
County Durham, officially simply Durham (/ˈdʌrəm/), is a ceremonial county in North East England. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to the north, the North Sea to the east, North Yorkshire to the south, and Cumbria to the west. The largest settlement is Darlington.
Tracy-Ann Oberman is an English actress, playwright and narrator. She is known for roles including Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2004–2005) and Valerie Lewis or "Auntie Val" in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020).
Sedgefield is a constituency in County Durham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Paul Howell of the Conservative Party. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Easington is a constituency created in 1950 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Grahame Morris of the Labour Party.
Bishop Auckland is a constituency in County Durham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Dehenna Davison, a Conservative.
The Sedgefield Ball Game is a mob football game played every Shrove Tuesday across the town of Sedgefield in County Durham, England.
The 2007 Sedgefield by-election was a by-election held on 19 July 2007 for the House of Commons constituency of Sedgefield in County Durham. The Ealing Southall by-election was also held on 19 July.
Sedgefield Borough Council elections were generally held every four years between the council's creation in 1974 and its abolition in 2009. Sedgefield was a non-metropolitan district in County Durham, England. On 1 April 2009 the council's functions passed to Durham County Council, which became a unitary authority.
Rachel Annabelle Riley is a British television presenter. She co-presents the Channel 4 daytime puzzle show Countdown and its comedy spin-off 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. She is a mathematics graduate.
Counties 2 Durham & Northumberland, formerly known as Durham/Northumberland 2, is an English rugby union league at the eighth tier of the domestic competition for teams from North East England. The champions and runner-up are promoted to Counties 1 Durham & Northumberland and the bottom two clubs are relegated to Counties 3 Durham & Northumberland. Each season two teams from Durham/Northumberland 2 are picked to take part in the RFU Senior Vase - one affiliated with the Durham County RFU, the other with the Northumberland RFU. Ponteland won their fourth title in 2020 with Sunderland also promoted.
Campaign for the North was a Think Tank which seeks to address the North-South Divide and establish a Regional Government for the North of England covering the six historic counties of the region. The Campaign promoted a devo-max settlement and, in doing so, aimed to create a Northern Government with tax-raising powers and responsibility for policy areas including economic development, education, health, policing and emergency services.
Thelma Doris Walker is a British politician, formerly the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Colne Valley from 2017 to 2019. Before her political career, she worked as a teacher for 34 years and later as an independent consultant.
Paul Howell is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield since 2019. Prior to his political career, he was an accountant.
Northumbria, in modern contexts, usually refers to the region of England between the Tees and Tweed, including the historic counties of Northumberland and Durham, but it may also be taken to be synonymous with North East England. The area corresponds to the rump lands of the historical Kingdom of Northumbria, which later developed into the late medieval county of Northumberland or Comitatus Northumbriae, whose original southern boundary was the River Tees. A provincial flag of Northumbria has been registered.
Northern England devolution is the broad term used to describe the wish for devolved governmental powers that would give more autonomy to the Northern Counties.
The Northern Independence Party (NIP) is a minor secessionist and democratic socialist party that seeks to make the region of Northern England an independent nation, under the name of Northumbria, after the medieval kingdom of the same name. The party, which was founded in October 2020 by the lecturer and former Labour activist Philip Proudfoot, currently has no elected representatives. It is led by David Heaven.
County Durham is a local government district in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is governed by Durham County Council, a unitary authority. The district has an area of 2,232.6 km2, and contains 135 civil parishes. It forms part of the larger ceremonial county of Durham, together with boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, and the part of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees.
Peter Jonathan Hewitt Newbon was a British academic and campaigner against antisemitism. At the time of his death, he was a lecturer in Romantic and Victorian literature at Northumbria University and a director of Labour Against Antisemitism.