Michael Heaver

British former politician

Michael Heaver
Heaver in 2009
Member of the European Parliament
for East of England
In office
2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020
Preceded byStuart Agnew
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1989-09-22) 22 September 1989 (age 34)
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Political partyConservative (2018–2019, 2021–present)
Other political
affiliations		Brexit (2019–2021)
UKIP (before 2018)
Residence(s)Benfleet, Essex, England[1]
EducationColeridge Community College
Hills Road Sixth Form College
Alma materUniversity of East Anglia

Michael Eric Heaver (born 22 September 1989) is a British broadcaster and former politician. He was elected as a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England constituency in the 2019 European parliamentary election a role he remained in until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU. Previously, he was the chair of the UK Independence Party (UKIP)'s youth wing, Young Independence.

Early life

Michael Eric Heaver was born on 22 September 1989 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.[2] His early education was at Coleridge Community College and Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge.[3] He appeared on the panel of the BBC's topical debate programme Question Time on 10 July 2008, at the age of 18, after winning the people's panellist competition. In 2011, Heaver graduated from the University of East Anglia with a bachelor's degree in European Politics.[4][5][6]

Political career

Heaver joined the UK Independence Party at the age of 17.[3] He twice served as the chair of their youth wing, Young Independence, and stood as a candidate for the party in the 2014 European parliamentary election in the East of England constituency.[7][8] He also ran UKIP candidate Tim Aker's unsuccessful campaign for the Thurrock constituency in the 2015 general election.[9][10][11]

Heaver formerly served as Nigel Farage's press officer from June 2015 until January 2017, when he resigned and launched the website, Westmonster.[12] It was modelled on American right-wing websites, like Breitbart News or Drudge Report.[13] Political donor Arron Banks backed the website.[14] It is now defunct and the company behind it was struck off the Companies Register in 2020.[15] In 2018, he appeared on the far-right American conspiracy theory and fake news website Infowars with alt-right conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson.[16] Later in the year, Heaver left UKIP and joined the Conservative Party.[17]

He stood as a candidate for the Brexit Party in the 2019 European parliamentary election. Heaver was second on his party's list behind chairman Richard Tice, and was elected as one of its three MEPs in the East of England constituency.[18][19] In the European Parliament, he was a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and was part of the delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula.[2]

On 26 September 2019, Heaver was announced as the Brexit Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Castle Point constituency in Essex.[1] However, on 11 November 2019, the party announced that it would not stand in incumbent Conservative seats.[20]

Heaver has a YouTube channel which has over 100,000 subscribers.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b "Brexit Party MEP selected as PPC for Castle Point". Leigh Times. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Michael Heaver". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  3. ^ a b MacBain, Hamish (2 March 2017). "Are these the faces of London's young 'alt-right'?". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  4. ^ "This week's panel". BBC News. 8 July 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  5. ^ "East England Euro Candidates 2014". UK Polling Report. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Final day of ceremonies for the UEA's 2011 graduations". Norwich Evening News. 22 July 2011. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  7. ^ "BBC Three - Free Speech, Series 1 - Michael Heaver". BBC. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Vote 2014: European election candidates for the East of England". 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  9. ^ Wright, Oliver (5 June 2015). "General Election 2015: Battle for Thurrock turns nasty as Ukip plays race card". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  10. ^ Engel, Matthew (15 March 2015). "Ukip's Tim Aker, the man who wasn't there". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  11. ^ "2015 Election Results". parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  12. ^ Payne, Sebastian (June 2015). "Nigel Farage rejigs his team and hires Michael Heaver as press aide". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  13. ^ Jackson, Jasper (19 January 2017). "Arron Banks launches Breitbart-style site Westmonster". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  14. ^ Rajan, Amol (20 January 2017). "Arron Banks launches news website". BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Michael Eric Heaver". Companies House. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  16. ^ "Brexit Party figures have extensive links to InfoWars conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson, retweeting him hundreds of times, and links to American conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec". Hope not Hate. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  17. ^ James, William (23 September 2018). "Pro-Brexit movement splinters in fight against PM's EU divorce plan". Reuters. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  18. ^ "2019 European elections: List of candidates for the East of England". European Parliament. 28 April 2019. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  19. ^ "European elections 2019: Brexit Party wins three East seats". BBC News. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Brexit Party rules out standing in Tory seats". BBC News. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  21. ^ "About". Michael Heaver (YouTube). Retrieved 18 June 2023.

External links

  • European Parliament Biography
  • v
  • t
  • e
Brexit Party / Reform UK
Leadership
Leaders
Chairman
Co-Deputy Leaders
  • David Bull (2021–present)
  • Ben Habib (2023–present)
Political
representation
House of Commons
(elected for the Conservatives in 2019)
  • Lee Anderson
Ninth European Parliament
(elected in 2019
left Parliament Jan 2020)
Eighth European Parliament
(elected on the UKIP list in 2014)
Senedd
(elected on the UKIP list in 2016
or subsequently co-opted)
Scottish Parliament
(co-opted on the Conservative list in 2016
not re-elected in 2021)
See also