Who is Patrick O’Flynn?
Patrick James O’Flynn (born 29 August 1965) is an English journalist and Social Democratic Party (SDP) politician who represented the East of England in the European Parliament (MEP) from 2014 to 2019. He was elected on behalf of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), but switched to the SDP in November 2018. He has written frequently for The Spectator since 2019.
Education
Patrick O’Flynn earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from King’s College, Cambridge, in 1987. He later earned a journalism diploma from City, University of London. [4] He later worked as the Daily Express’s chief political commentator and political editor.
Career
O’Flynn was the UK Independence Party’s economic spokesperson until May 19, 2015.
He ran as the UKIP candidate in Cambridge in the 2015 general election, finishing fifth with 5.2% of the vote.
Following that, he called UKIP leader Nigel Farage “snarling, thin-skinned, and aggressive.”
Patrick O’Flynn was Lisa Duffy’s running mate in the UK Independence Party leadership election in September 2016.
In July 2017, he resigned from the UKIP frontbench, believing that the party no longer supported his centrist economic policies.
In November 2018, he joined the SDP.
He cited UKIP leader Gerard Batten’s appointment of Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) as a major reason for leaving the party.
“Like many on the communitarian wing of [UKIP], I have decided to join the resurgent SDP, which campaigned for Brexit during the referendum and espouses broad and moderate pro-nation state political values that I – and I believe many of our 2014 voters – will be delighted to endorse,” he said of his decision to join the SDP. By defecting, O’Flynn became the SDP’s first MEP in the European Parliament (though in 1984 Michael Gallagher MEP had joined the original SDP).
In the 2019 Peterborough by-election, Patrick O’Flynn ran as the SDP candidate, but received only 135 votes (0.4%), losing to Lisa Forbes. By defeating the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate, O’Flynn narrowly avoided a repeat of the 1990 Bootle by-election result.
In April 2021, O’Flynn and Michael Heaver launched the Snap, a podcast.
Family
Patrick O’Flynn has not revealed any information about his family on the internet. He is most likely married and has children, but their names and other information are unknown.
Net Worth
What exactly is it? The net worth of Patrick O’Flynn is unknown. But he must have made a good living from his professional engagements over the years.
Social Media
Patrick O’Flynn is active on Twitter with over 82,000 followers on his page.
