Christopher John Fred Gill RD (born 28 October 1936) is a British politician, and a former member of the National Executive Committee of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He is the president of

The Freedom Association The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as "a non-partisan, classically liberal campaign group, which has links to the Conservative Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). TFA was founded in ...

(TFA). A former

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Member of Parliament, he was one of the Maastricht Rebels of the mid-1990s.

Biography

Gill was born in Wolverhampton, where he later became a local councillor, and was educated locally at Birchfield Preparatory School, then at Shrewsbury School. His national service was in the Royal Navy, serving aboard and . He retired as Chairman of his family's sausage-making business, F.A. Gill Ltd., in 2006. Gill served as Conservative MP for Ludlow from 1987 to 2001, when he stepped down. He was known as the "Butcher from Ludlow" because of his family company being a meat processing firm. He had the Conservative

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

withdrawn over the EC Finance Bill on 28 November 1994. As a constituency MP, Gill fought against the closure of local cottage hospitals. Gill was also known for being an expert on areas of European Union legislation, and he was a notable

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

. Shortly before leaving Parliament in 2001, he resigned his membership of the Conservatives. In 2006, Gill announced that he had joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP), having endorsed the party's policies at the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...

. He was an elected member of UKIP's National Executive Committee from 2007 until 2010. He stood for Ludlow as a UKIP candidate at the 2010 general election, coming fourth with 2,127 votes, 4.4% of the total, losing his deposit but almost tripling the 2005 vote. At the time of the election, Gill stated that his reasoning for standing was: "I am standing against 'call me Dave's' Tories because I cannot tolerate their utter contempt for the concerns of voters on matters of immigration, economy, individual liberty and the broken promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty."Former Tory MP to stand for UKIP in Ludlow
/ref> He ws chairman of

from 2001, before becoming its president in 2007.

Publications

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Christopher 1936 births Living people People from Wolverhampton Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Shrewsbury School Councillors in Wolverhampton UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire Members of the Freedom Association Conservative Party (UK) councillors British Eurosceptics