Gareth John Bennett
MS (born 1 December 1968) is a Welsh politician who served as the Leader of the
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) 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 par ...
(UKIP) in the
Senedd from 2018 to 2019, and was a
Member of the Senedd (MS) for
South Wales Central
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
from
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
to
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
.
On 10 August 2018 he was elected the leader of
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) 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 p ...
in the
Senedd. On 7 November 2019, he quit UKIP to become an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
. On 24 June 2020, he joined
Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party
The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party ( cy, Plaid Diddymu Cynulliad Cymru), or in Wales, simply Abolish, is a registered single issue political party in Wales. It campaigns for the abolition of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), formerly known as th ...
.
In April 2021, Bennett decided to stand as an independent candidate in the
Senedd election of that year; he remains as a member of Abolish The Welsh Assembly.
Early life
Bennett was born in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
on 1 December 1968. He was educated at Llandaff City Primary School and
Radyr Comprehensive School. He studied sociology at
Middlesex Polytechnic
Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries of ...
but left halfway through the course, returning to Cardiff to study journalism at the
Cardiff Institute of Higher Education, which lead to a post with the ''Carmarthen Journal''.
Political career
Bennett joined UKIP in 2014. He campaigned in the
2014 European election, and was agent for UKIP candidate Brian Morris in
Cardiff West at the
2015 general election.
When Bennett was selected to contest the
South Wales Central
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
electoral region, he was criticised for blaming rubbish problems in Cardiff on students and Eastern European immigrants and was nicknamed the '
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
of Wales'. This led to senior UKIP figures including leader
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) 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 (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...
and immigration spokesman
Steven Woolfe
Steven Marcus Woolfe (born 6 October 1967) is a British politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England from 2014 until 2019.
Woolfe was born in Moss Side in Manchester and studied law at Aberystwyth Unive ...
publicly distancing themselves from Bennett. A petition containing the names of 16 other UKIP Assembly candidates opposing Bennett's candidacy was presented to the party's National Executive Committee, which upheld his candidacy. He was elected to National Assembly for Wales as member for South Wales Central in 2016.
In the UKIP Assembly group, Bennett backed
Neil Hamilton for leader over
Nathan Gill
Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British politician, who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 2014 to J ...
. After Hamilton became leader of the group, Bennett was appointed as UKIP Assembly spokesman for Local Government, Housing and Sport. In April 2017, Bennett was appointed as UKIP's Business Manager in the Assembly. In the same month, the Assembly's Equalities Committee, of which Bennett was a member, published a report about refugees. Bennett brought out his own report, in which he complained that the proposals would encourage more refugees to come to Wales.
In December 2017, Bennett was banned from speaking in the Chamber of the Welsh Assembly for a year by Presiding Officer
Elin Jones
Elin Jones (born 1 September 1966) is a Welsh politician who has served as the Llywydd of the Senedd since 2016. A member of Plaid Cymru, Jones has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ceredigion since 1999.
Background
Jones attended Llan ...
. The ban came after Bennett claimed that making the process to change legal gender easier would lead society to implode. Bennett refused to apologise or withdraw his remarks, and was barred. In January 2018, Bennett made a partial apology in which he stated that he would accept the authority of the Presiding Officer, and he was allowed to resume his speaking duties without withdrawing his previous remarks.
In February 2018, Bennett led UKIP's opposition to plans to expand the Welsh Assembly's membership.
Bennett claimed almost £10,000 in expenses to set up an office which never opened.
In July 2018, it was announced that there would be a ballot of UKIP party members in Wales to decide the position of UKIP Leader in Wales. The three candidates who announced that they were running for the post were former Assembly Group Leader Neil Hamilton, who had just been ousted from the role;
Caroline Jones
Caroline Jones (born June 30, 1990) is an American country music singer, songwriter and radio host. Jones has released a number of albums, the most successful one being ''Bare Feet''. Her most recent album, ''Antipodes'', was released on Novemb ...
, who had ousted him; and Gareth Bennett. Bennett's main policy planks included his campaign to abolish the Welsh Assembly, and his opposition to the Welsh Government's Welsh language policies. He won the
UKIP Wales leadership election in August 2018, with 269 votes.
In August 2018, Bennett was criticised by First Minister
Carwyn Jones
Carwyn Howell Jones (born 21 March 1967) is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 2009. Jones served as the Member of the S ...
and other Assembly members for supporting
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
's remarks about the
Muslim veil
A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent i ...
.
On 3 June 2019, Bennett announced that he would be running in the
2019 UK Independence Party leadership election
The 2019 UK Independence Party leadership election took place following the departure on 2 June of Gerard Batten from the leadership of the UK Independence Party. The result was announced on 10 August 2019, with Richard Braine being elected to ...
after
Gerard Batten
Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament ( ...
stood down as leader. Bennett has claimed that he would take UKIP forward with 'bold policy ideas', after Gerard Batten's one-year term came to an end. Bennett published his 2019 UKIP Leadership Election Manifesto on his website, which includes policies such as 'National ID Cards' ,'UKIP Party Democracy', 'National Volunteer Force', 'Regular Referenda', 'Freedom of Speech', 'Regulating Mosques', 'Scrap Foreign Aid' and 'Abolishing Politicians'. On 11 July, Bennett announced that he would withdraw his leadership bid in order to promote Ben Walker's campaign.
On 7 November 2019, he quit UKIP to become an independent politician.
In June 2020, Bennett joined the
Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party
The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party ( cy, Plaid Diddymu Cynulliad Cymru), or in Wales, simply Abolish, is a registered single issue political party in Wales. It campaigns for the abolition of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), formerly known as th ...
, later leaving the party in March 2021 to stand as an independent candidate for
Cynon Valley in the
2021 Senedd election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
.
He was unsuccessful in getting elected, and did not stand as a candidate for South Wales Central.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Gareth
1968 births
Living people
People educated at Radyr Comprehensive School
Alumni of Middlesex University
Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University
Independent members of the Senedd
UK Independence Party members of the Senedd
Wales MSs 2016–2021
Politicians from Cardiff
Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party politicians