Tim Wilson (British politician)

Last updated

Tim Wilson
Tim wilson photo2 by pasha.jpg
Wilson in 2015
Born (1961-05-12) 12 May 1961 (age 61)
Other namesZontul Films Ltd
Education Ratcliffe College
Alma mater St Benet's Hall, Oxford
Occupations
  • Animator
  • professor
  • former politician
Years active2015–present
Political party UK Independence Party
(former member)

Tim Wilson (born 12 May 1961) is an English animator and former politician. In 2015, he was selected as South Northamptonshire's candidate for the UK Independence Party, but stood down due to disagreeing with racist comments made by party members. [1] In 2019, he finished in third place in the second series of the Channel 4 series The Circle , and also produces videos for Zontul Films Ltd's YouTube channel.

Contents

Background

Wilson attended Ratcliffe College and Oxford University where he studied Theology in St Benet's Hall under Metropolitan Bishop Kallistos Ware and specialised in inter-faith dialogue, giving lectures in Birmingham. He was a theatre-designer, providing an "American Gothic" design for the first London revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins" directed by Sam Buntrock [2] He has travelled in Albania, Turkey and Greece drawing the views that Edward Lear first drew in 1848. His work is recorded in the Albanian Encyclopedia of Art. [3] In 2016, he became a professor in the Moscow State Pedagogical University where he had previously lectured. [4]

Politics

Wilson was selected as UKIP's candidate for South Northamptonshire at the 2015 general election. However, he resigned from UKIP on 24 March [5] in support of Humza Yousaf who said he was upset when David Coburn the only UKIP MEP in Scotland allegedly referred to Yousaf as the terrorist Abu Hamza. [6] [7] In his resignation letter, Tim Wilson made it clear that he believed Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP had shown poor judgement in dismissing Coburn's alleged remarks as a "a joke in very poor taste. He would not be taking any action against him". [8] Wilson later made the point that a joke should be funny and that linking Humza Yousaf to convicted terrorist Abu Hamza was not funny. Wilson is reported saying, "If Mr Coburn wants to make bad jokes about religion, then he is welcome to quit and join Monty Python.". [9] "You can’t toss this thing off as a joke with a pint of beer. It's unacceptable." [10] As an animator, Wilson had made films for the UKIP campaign, [11] UKIP's apparent response has been to accuse Wilson of not being interested in local affairs, a claim he denies in the Daventry Express, [12] and by standing for election as a local Councillor.

While taking part in The Circle, Wilson claimed he actually voted to Remain and wished to "expose UKIP from the inside". [13] In September 2021, Tim Wilson was diagnosed with cancer. When he suffered a relapse, his co-star Woody Cook, son of Fat Boy Slim and Zoe Ball, wrote “He is a blessing to my life and to this world and he truly deserves the recognition and fast recovery. I love you Tim! xxx” [14]

Television

In September 2019, Wilson began appearing as a contestant in the second series of the Channel 4 reality series The Circle . [1] He was a finalist, placed joint third in the series. He also won the shows "Viewers' Champion" title for being the most popular finalist by viewer's vote, winning a £30,000 prize. Since leaving the show, Wilson has been vocal in calling on the Government for change in the way reality television programmes are made. [15]

Awards

In 2012, Wilson won Best Animation at the Reed.co.uk Short Film Competition for How to be Boss. [16]

Related Research Articles

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

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. The party is currently led by Neil Hamilton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Farage</span> British 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. He was Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the United Kingdom's exit from the EU in 2020. He was the host of The Nigel Farage Show, a radio phone-in on the Global-owned talk radio station LBC, from 2017 to 2020. Farage is currently the Honorary President of Reform UK and a presenter for GB News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Batten</span> Former Leader of the UK Independence Party

Gerard Joseph Batten is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) between 2018 and 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London between 2004 and 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Campbell Bannerman</span> British Conservative Party politician

David Campbell Bannerman is a British Conservative Party 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 Freedom Association. He served as Deputy Leader of UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 until 2010, when he was replaced by Paul Nuttall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 UK Independence Party leadership election</span> United Kingdom independence party (UKIP) leadership election

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) leadership election of 2010 was triggered on 17 August 2010 with the resignation of the incumbent leader, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, following difficulties during the 2010 general election campaign, with the result announced on 5 November 2010. Lord Pearson of Rannoch had been leader of the party since the previous leadership election, less than a year earlier. Jeffrey Titford was appointed interim leader during the summer by the UKIP National Executive Committee. Nigel Farage won the election with over 60% of the vote.

<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).

Margaret Lucille Jeanne Parker is an English politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands region between 2014 and 2019. She was born in Grantham and educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School and De Montfort University, where she read Law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diane James</span> Brexit Party politician and former leader of the UK Independence Party

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janice Atkinson</span> British politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Etheridge</span> UKIP politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Coburn (politician)</span> Brexit Party politician

David Adam Coburn is a Scottish politician and businessman who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 2014 to 2019. A former member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Coburn was the leader of UKIP Scotland from July 2014 until December 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy</span> Political group in the European Parliament

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group that existed during the Seventh European Parliament, with significant changes to group membership.

<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">July–September 2016 UK Independence Party leadership election</span> United Kingdom independence party (UKIP) leadership election

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.

The 2017 UK Independence Party leadership election was called after 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reform UK</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant political force in 2019. After Brexit, it was renamed to Reform UK in January 2021, and became primarily an anti-lockdown party during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, in December 2022, it began campaigning on broader right-wing populist themes during the British cost-of-living crisis. Its greatest electoral success was as the Brexit Party, which won 29 seats and the largest share of the national vote in the 2019 European Parliament election.

John Tennant is a British politician, who was a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the North East of England between 2019 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU. and the former party leader of Independent Union, of which he is a councillor on Hartlepool Borough Council for the Jesmond ward.

References

  1. 1 2 Selby, Jenn (27 September 2019). "Who is Tim from The Circle? The professor who quit Ukip". i . Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. "A shot in the dark". Independent.co.uk . 12 July 1997. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  3. "Zontul Films - about". Zontulfilms.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  4. "Ученому из Оксфорда Тимоти Эрику Уилсону присвоено звание Почетного профессора МПГУ". Mpgu.su. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  5. "Candidate quits over UKIP MEP remark". BBC News. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  6. "MEP apology over Abu Hamza comment". BBC News. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  7. "Gay UKIP candidate quits in protest after David Coburn's 'terrorist' joke". Pink News . 27 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  8. "EXCLUSIVE: More UKIP Candidates Under Pressure to Stand Down". Theblueguerilla.co.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  9. "UKIP candidate stands down in protest at racist remarks". Daventryexpress.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  10. Blanchard, Jack (24 March 2015). "UKIP loses fourth candidate as Nigel Farage is accused of ignoring racism". Daily Mirror . Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  11. [ dead link ]
  12. "Call to bring 'dignity back to Daventry'". Daventryexpress.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  13. "The Circle Contestant Tim Wilson's 'Spat' With Nigel Farage (And History With UKIP) Explained". HuffPost UK. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  14. Report, The Celeb. "Zoe Ball's son Woody Cook says The Circle co-star Tim is 'not doing the best' after devastating bowel cancer diagnosis". Thecelebreport.com. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  15. "I was on The Circle – it's time reality TV treated its contestants as professionals". Inews.co.uk. 16 March 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  16. "Reed.co.uk Short Film Competition 2012". Heyuguys.com. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2018.