Richard A. E. North

Last updated

Richard Anthony Edward North [1] (born 1948) is a British blogger and author. He has published books on defence and agriculture. [2] He was previously the research director in the European Parliament for the now-defunct political grouping Europe of Democracies and Diversities, which included the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Contents

North has collaborated with the late journalist Christopher Booker on climate change, public health and other issues. [3] He co-wrote a number of books with Booker, and collaborated with Booker's journalism.

Background

North had "a brief career in the Royal Air Force" [4] before becoming a local government officer, and then for two decades ran his own consultancy business. [4] A 1994 contribution to the Institute of Economic Affairs's journal Economic Affairs described him as "an independent food safety adviser". [5] "He then moved into trade politics and thence to the European Parliament as research director for the group of European Democracies and Diversities", [4] a grouping of eurosceptic political groups which existed from 1999 to 2004, in which the UK Independence Party (UKIP) participated. At the European Parliament in Strasbourg, North shared an office with UKIP's leader Nigel Farage. [6]

He completed a PhD [4] on public sector food-poisoning surveillance at Leeds Metropolitan University in the 1990s. [1]

North stood for the Referendum Party in the 1997 election, in South Derbyshire, having joined the party in 1996. [7] In the 2004 European elections, North was UKIP's number one candidate on the party list for the Yorkshire region, until he was supplanted by Godfrey Bloom, [8] who won a seat. North later resigned from UKIP, describing his service for the party as "optimism, descending into frustration, to disillusionment and to betrayal". [9] [10]

European Union

Contributions

He began collaborating with the journalist Christopher Booker in the early 1990s, co-publishing on a range of issues, including the European Union. Their works advance a popular though academically disputed historiography of the UK's membership of the European Union. Their first book, The Mad Officials: How The Bureaucrats Are Strangling Britain (1994), focused on EU regulation in the UK, and was followed by The Castle of Lies: Why Britain Must get Out of Europe (1996) and The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive? (2005). In 2004, he published a Bruges Group paper on the European Union's Galileo satellite navigation system. [11]

North's blog, eureferendum.com, reached third place on the Technorati list of most influential blogs in the UK for 2006. [12]

In a post on his eureferendum.com blog, in May 2015, North called on supporters of the UK withdrawing from the EU to contact him with the aim of forming a volunteer unit to "monitor, add, and edit" Wikipedia content to be more favourable to their views. [13] Furthermore, he claimed that Wikipedia's "wrong" coverage of climate change, of which North is a notable denier, proved the need for such endeavors. [13]

Since the Brexit referendum of 2016, the EU Referendum blog has grown increasingly critical of perceived shortcomings of the UK Government in the negotiating process, including its failures to acknowledge the difficult trade-offs necessary in the negotiations and the refusal of the UK authorities to engage with Flexcit, or a path like EEA/EFTA membership, in exchange for a "No Deal" exit.

Flexcit

North is the original author and main proponent of Flexcit (standing for "Flexible Continuous Exit"), a policy suggestion involving gradual British disengagement from the European Union. [14] It has been claimed by Andrew Orlowski of The Register that Flexcit became a point of reference for civil servants. [15]

Flexcit argues that exit from the EU is "a process rather than an event", so advocating a phased repatriation of powers, [16] which has been described as "Brexit lite". [17] The document proposes that Britain should retain membership of the European Economic Area by rejoining the European Free Trade Association, often called the Norway option. [18] Under the proposal, Britain would initially adopt the community acquis of the European Union, the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions which constitute the body of European Union law. North argues that under this approach to EU exit there would be very little visible consequence of Britain's change in status, either for the better or the worse. Further renegotiation of trade and governance would become a longer-term option. [19]

North was one of seventeen shortlisted entrants invited to submit a full submission to the Institute of Economic Affairs's 2013 Brexit Prize competition. Entrants were asked to imagine an "out" vote in a proposed referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union and asked to compose a blueprint for the process of withdrawal, taking account of Britain's relationship to global governance and trade systems. [20] His proposal reached the shortlist for the final. It became the official policy of Arron Banks' Leave.EU campaign that vied unsuccessfully for official recognition as the official Leave campaign. [21]

Reception of the academic community

The EU politics writer and blogger J. Clive Matthews has argued that North is guilty of "pandering to his audience’s preconceptions and prejudices". [22] A European Commission official and academic has argued that North and Booker are best seen as "latter-day pamphleteers", who "exaggerate their case", advancing an "all-embracing, Kafkaesque conspiracy, the "System", consisting of an evil partnership between Brussels and Whitehall". [23] A review of North's co-authored book The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive? (2005), in the academic journal The Historian described his "skewed portrayal" of European integration "against the will of a bamboozled European public", as "not so much false as ludicrous", noting "the book loses whatever credibility it accrues in its better chapters by its persistently exaggerated language". [24] Another review, in the Prague-based academic journal Perspectives, praises the book's attempted scope, but accuses the authors of straying into "populism", and "lack[ing] objectivity", noting the book "should be read as an expression of one view of European integration rather than a well balanced academic source". [25] The reviewer concludes by noting the importance of the book's influence on popular euroscepticsm in the UK, but warns readers to look elsewhere for "an objective information source". [25]

Princeton University's Andrew Moravcsik, whose research is cited in the book, has accused the authors of "misconstruing" his work as supporting their narrative and failing to demonstrate that there were any viable alternatives to European Union membership, with Booker and North's economics being "even dodgier than their history". [26] He further argues that their "Eurosceptic dogma" of an "undemocratic" scheme of centralised regulation" is undermined by their own examples; that it is largely "British officials exercising their own discretion" and juggling the fate of special interest groups against the wider economy. [26]

Responding to a question on "Flexcit" by a supporter of North during a live Q&A on Reddit, the Jean Monnet Chair of EU Law at the University of Liverpool, Michael Dougan, noted that North's "academic work on EU law" was not known to him as it was not published in the mainstream international peer-reviewed journals for the field of European legal studies. Dougan suggested further that it does not meet the "internationally recognised" standards for the discipline. [27]

Health

North and Booker wrote a special edition for Private Eye on the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, describing the subsequent merger of the Agriculture (MAFF) and Environment ministries to form the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as the "most cynical makeover since Windscale changed its name to Sellafield". [28]

More recently, North collaborated with Booker on Scared To Death: From BSE To Global Warming, Why Scares Are Costing Us The Earth (2007), a study of the part played in Western society in recent decades by the "scare phenomenon".

Defence

North's 2009 sole-author book, Ministry of Defeat 2003–2009: The British in Iraq, was reviewed in the Daily Telegraph . [29] North also blogs on defence matters and is credited by Booker with early contributions to the criticism of the Ministry of Defence's use of under-protected Land Rovers in Afghanistan. [30] In 2003, he published a Centre for Policy Studies paper on UK defence policy. [31]

Climate change

North has written about and commented on climate change from a sceptical position, including co-authoring (with Christopher Booker) Climategate to Cancun: The Real Global Warming Disaster Continues..., the followup to Booker's The Real Global Warming Disaster . North also collaborated with Booker in January 2010 on what Booker dubbed "Amazongate", [32] [33] when North showed that an IPCC claim that 40 percent of the Amazonian forests could react drastically to "even a slight reduction in precipitation" was sourced to a World Wildlife Fund report. While North was correct to point out that the report was not peer-reviewed scientific literature, [32] it later became clear that there was evidence supporting the report's claim, and The Sunday Times printed an apology and retraction for an article based on material from North. [34]

In December 2009, Booker and North published an article in The Sunday Telegraph in which they accused Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), of using his position for personal gain, [35] [36] [37] [38] with a follow-up Telegraph article in January 2010. [39] According to George Monbiot, "The allegations ... were widely aired in the media and generally believed." [37] On 21 August 2010, The Daily Telegraph issued an apology, [36] and withdrew the December article from its website, [37] having reportedly paid legal fees running into six figures. Pachauri described the original allegations as "another attempt by the climate sceptics to discredit the IPCC". [40]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajendra K. Pachauri</span> Indian academic (1940–2020)

Rajendra Kumar Pachauri was the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2002 to 2015, during the fourth and fifth assessment cycles. Under his leadership the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and delivered the Fifth Assessment Report, the scientific foundation of the Paris Agreement. He held the post from 2002 until his resignation in February 2015 after facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment. In March 2022, he was exonerated of the sexual harassment allegations. He was succeeded by Hoesung Lee. Pachauri assumed his responsibilities as the Chief Executive of The Energy and Resources Institute in 1981 and led the institute for more than three decades and demitted office as Executive Vice Chairman of TERI in 2016. Pachauri, universally known as Patchy, was an internationally recognized voice on environmental and policy issues, and his leadership of the IPCC contributed to the issue of human-caused climate change becoming recognized as a matter of vital global concern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Farage</span> British broadcaster and politician (born 1964)

Nigel Paul Farage is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party from 2019 to 2021. Farage is currently the Honorary President of Reform UK and a presenter for GB News. He served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union in 2020.

Christopher John Penrice Booker was an English journalist and author. He was a founder and first editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye in 1961. From 1990 onward he was a columnist for The Sunday Telegraph. In 2009, he published The Real Global Warming Disaster. He also disputed the link between passive smoking and cancer, and the dangers posed by asbestos. In his Sunday Telegraph section he frequently commented on the UK Family Courts and Social Services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bow Group</span> British conservative think tank

The Bow Group is a UK-based think tank promoting conservative opinion. Founded in 1951, it is the oldest group of its kind, counting many senior Conservative Party MPs and peers among its members. It represents a forum for political debate with its varied programme of events and official journal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston and Skegness (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom

Boston and Skegness is a county constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is located in Lincolnshire, England. Like all British constituencies, Boston and Skegness elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. The seat has been represented by the Conservative MP Matt Warman since the 2015 general election, and is usually considered a safe seat for the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Carswell</span> British politician

John Douglas Wilson Carswell is a British former politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2005 to 2017, co-founded Vote Leave and currently serves as president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom</span> Criticism/Opposition to the European Union in the United Kingdom

Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom is a continuum of belief ranging from the opposition to certain political policies of the European Union to the complete opposition to the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union. It has been a significant element in the politics of the United Kingdom (UK). A 2009 Eurobarometer survey of EU citizens showed support for membership of the EU was lowest in the United Kingdom, alongside Latvia and Hungary.

Better Off Out (BOO) is the name of a non-party campaign that called for the United Kingdom (UK)'s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). It is run by The Freedom Association, a pressure group that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-right and libertarian, and has links to the Conservative Party, The Brexit Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). The campaign was formed in 2006 and is based in Cheltenham, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum</span>

On 23 June 2016, a referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU). The referendum resulted in 51.9% of the votes cast being in favour of leaving the EU, beginning the process of the country's withdrawal from the EU commonly termed "Brexit".

Arron Fraser Andrew Banks is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped Nigel Farage's campaign for Britain to leave the EU.

<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, held on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the results were 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, and 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vote Leave</span> Campaign for UK withdrawal from the EU

Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leaving the European Union in the Referendum.

Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as The Know, the campaign was relaunched in September of that year with its name changed to "Leave.eu" to reflect altered wording in the referendum question.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grassroots Out</span> Political pressure organization in favor of Brexit

Grassroots Out (GO) was an organisation funded by Arron Banks that campaigned in favour of EU withdrawal in the 2016 referendum on EU membership in the United Kingdom. The organisation was formed in January 2016, as a result of infighting between Vote Leave and Leave.EU, and officially launched on 23 January 2016 in Kettering.

A number of politicians, public figures, newspapers and magazines, businesses and other organisations endorsed either the United Kingdom remaining in the EU or the United Kingdom leaving the EU during the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaigning in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum</span> Public outreach by politicians in the lead-up to Brexit

Campaigning in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum began unofficially on 20 February 2016 when Prime Minister David Cameron formally announced under the terms of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 that a referendum would be held on the issue of the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. The official campaign period for the 2016 referendum ran from 15 April 2016 until the day of the poll on 23 June 2016.

The result in favour of Brexit of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum is one of the most significant political events for Britain during the 21st century. The debate provoked major consideration to an array of topics, argued up-to, and beyond, the referendum on 23 June 2016. The referendum was originally conceived by David Cameron as a means to defeat the anti-EU faction within his own party by having it fail, but he misjudged the level of public support for leaving, particularly amongst Labour Party voters. Factors included sovereignty, immigration, the economy and anti-establishment politics, amongst various other influences. The result of the referendum was that 51.8% of the votes were in favour of leaving the European Union. The formal withdrawal from the EU took place at 23:00 on 31 January 2020, almost three years after Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on 29 March 2017. This page provides an overarching analysis of the different arguments which were presented by both the Leave and Remain campaigns.

A by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Sleaford and North Hykeham in Lincolnshire, England, was held on 8 December 2016. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative member of parliament (MP) Stephen Phillips, who left Parliament on 4 November 2016 due to policy differences with the Conservative government led by the prime minister, Theresa May, over Brexit – the British withdrawal from the European Union (EU). The Conservatives nominated Caroline Johnson, a paediatrician, to replace Phillips; she won the by-election with more than 50 per cent of the vote, a sizable majority. The Conservatives' vote share fell slightly compared to the result at the previous general election in 2015.

The Great Deception: Can the European Union Survive? is a book written by the journalist Christopher Booker and the researcher Richard A. E. North, written in 2005 with an update published in 2016 for the European Referendum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">55 Tufton Street</span> London building housing lobby groups related to pro-Brexit and climate change denial

55 Tufton Street is a four-storey Georgian-era townhouse on historic Tufton Street, in Westminster, London, owned by businessman Richard Smith. Since the 2010s the building has hosted a network of libertarian lobby groups and think tanks related to pro-Brexit, climate science denial and other fossil-fuel lobby groups. Some of the organisations it houses have close connections with those at 57 Tufton Street next door, including the Centre for Policy Studies and CapX.

References

  1. 1 2 McSpotlight, Richard North curriculum vitae
  2. ↑ Continuum Publishing, Ministry of Defeat: The British in Iraq 2003–2009
  3. ↑ Christopher Booker, Christopher Booker's notebook, Daily Telegraph, 30 July 2006
  4. 1 2 3 4 Bruges Group, Columnists, The Bruges Group
  5. ↑ Richard North, "The Regulatory Crisis of the 1990s: Some Solutions", Economic Affairs, 14(4), June 1994, pp23–27
  6. ↑ Daniel (2005:103)
  7. ↑ Daniel (2005:34)
  8. ↑ Mark Daniel, Cranks and gadflies: the story of UKIP" , Timewell Press, 2005. p105
  9. ↑ Daniel (2005:138)
  10. ↑ Alan Sked, "As founder of the UKIP, I will vote Tory", Daily Telegraph , 30 May 2004
  11. ↑ Christopher Booker, "Christopher Booker's notebook", Daily Telegraph, 1 January 2006
  12. ↑ Mackenzie, Kate (10 October 2006). "European bloggers find their voice". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  13. 1 2 North, Richard (11 May 2015). "EU Referendum: the battle for Wikipedia". eureferendum.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019. As with climate change, Wikipedia looks to be on the wrong side, and we are going to have to fight hard to get our voices heard. The "out" campaign is going to have to establish our own, permanent Wikipedia unit, to monitor, add and edit content. If anyone wants to volunteer, drop me an e-mail.
  14. ↑ http://eureferendum.com/themarketsolution.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  15. ↑ "PM resigns as Britain votes to leave EU". The Register. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  16. ↑ "Why Theresa May's hard Brexit might be softer than you think". The Register.
  17. ↑ "Please let's not take the monetary sledgehammer to the nut of Britain's post Brexit economy". The Daily Telegraph.
  18. ↑ "Leave camp must accept that Norway model is the only safe way to exit EU". The Daily Telegraph.
  19. ↑ Richard North (8 April 2014). "Flexcit: how we would actually leave the EU". eureferendum.com.
  20. ↑ "IEA announces Brexit Prize shortlist". IEA. 31 October 2013.
  21. ↑ "'They're Run By A Chimpanzee On Drugs' - The Tweets Which Will Embarrass Leave.EU's New Adviser". Huffington Post (UK). 8 January 2016.
  22. ↑ J Clive-Mathews (29 February 2008). "The State of the EU debate". jcm.org.uk.
  23. ↑ Martin Westlake (14 February 1997). "Fleeing the union Jacques". Times Higher Education.
  24. ↑ Mark Gilbert (December 2005). Richard, Spall (ed.). "Book Review: The Great Deception: The Secret History of the European Union. By Christopher Booker and Richard North". The Historian. 67 (4): 787–788. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2005.00130.x. S2CID   218499735.
  25. 1 2 Tunkrová, Lucie (Winter 2006). Karlas, Jan (ed.). "The Great Deception. The Secret History of the European Union (Skryté dějiny evropské integrace od roku 1918 do současnosti) by Christopher Booker, Richard North". Perspectives: The Central European Review of International Affairs. Institute of International Relations, NGO (27): 122–124. eISSN   1803-4551. ISSN   1210-762X. JSTOR   23616067.
  26. 1 2 Moravcsik, Andrew (22 August 2004). "Eurosceptic, but sane". Prospect. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  27. ↑ "We are a group of EU Law legal experts researching Brexit. Ask us Anything". Reddit. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2017. "No, we're not aware of North's academic work on EU law: it does not appear to be published in the mainstream international peer reviewed journals for the field of European legal studies (though do feel free to point us in the right direction, if we have missed something out here). We tend to work with materials meeting the proper standards for academic research, which are internationally recognised for our discipline."
  28. ↑ Andrew Rowell. Don't worry, it's safe to eat: the true story of GM food, BSE, & Foot and Mouth. Earthscan, 2003. p188
  29. ↑ "Ministry of Defeat: the British War in Iraq 2003–2009 by Richard North: review", Daily Telegraph , 18 July 2009
  30. ↑ Christopher Booker, "Christopher Booker's Notebook", Daily Telegraph, 27 January 2008
    - Christopher Booker, "Christopher Booker's Notebook", Daily Telegraph, 23 December 2007
  31. ↑ Richard North (2003), "The Wrong Side of the Hill", Centre for Policy Studies
  32. 1 2 Booker, Christopher (30 January 2010). "Amazongate: new evidence of the IPCC's failures". The Sunday Telegraph . Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  33. ↑ "Harrabin's Notes: IPCC under scrutiny", BBC , 30 January 2010
  34. ↑ "Leakegate: A retraction". RealClimate. 20 June 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  35. ↑ Christopher Booker and Richard North, "Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri". The Sunday Telegraph , 20 December 2009
  36. 1 2 Daily Telegraph , 21 August 2010, Dr Pachauri – Apology
  37. 1 2 3 George Monbiot, "Rajendra Pachauri innocent of financial misdealings but smears will continue", The Guardian, 26 August 2010,
  38. ↑ The article was titled "Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri". According to George Monbiot (26 August 2010), "The subtitle alleged that Pachauri has been "making a fortune from his links with 'carbon trading' companies". The article maintained that the money made by Pachauri while working for other organisations "must run into millions of dollars".
  39. ↑ Christopher Booker and Richard North, The curious case of the expanding environmental group with falling income, The Sunday Telegraph , 17 January 2010
  40. ↑ "Daily Telegraph apologises to Pachauri", Hindustan Times , 21 August 2010
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.