James Bruce Carver (born 15 August 1969) is a British politician who served as a
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
(MEP) for the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
region between 2014 and 2019. He was elected in
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
for 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 ...
, second on the list for the region, being elected together with
Jill Seymour
Jill Seymour (born 8 May 1958) is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands from 2014 to 2019. Elected for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2014, in April 2019 she defected to the Br ...
and
Bill Etheridge. He resigned from UKIP in May 2018.
Biography
Carver was born on 15 August 1969 in
Farnborough, Kent
Farnborough is a village in south-eastern Greater London, England, located in the historic county of Kent. Situated south of Locksbottom, west of Green Street Green, north of Downe and Hazelwood, and east of Keston, it is centred southeas ...
and was educated at
St John Rigby Catholic College and
Orpington College of Further Education. At the age of eleven his parents separated due to his father’s alcoholism, and he afterwards grew up in a one-parent family, living with his mother, who, when aged 15, he helped look after following her lung cancer diagnosis. She subsequently went into remission, but died very quickly from secondary cancer, two months after his 17th birthday in 1986. Raising himself thereafter, he later described the next few years as “the biggest learning curve of my life - It was either sink of swim”.
He works in a client liaison role for the Medal Department of a leading auction London house, having previously rebuilt and run his family umbrella making business for thirty years, before closing it down in 2022.
Political career
Previously a Labour voter, Carver joined UKIP in 1996 and stood in four general elections for UKIP:
Orpington
Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross.
On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...
in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
(5th, 526 votes),
Cheltenham in
2001 (6th, 482 votes),
Preseli Pembrokeshire
Preseli Pembrokeshire (, ; cy, Preseli Sir Benfro) was one of six local government districts of Dyfed in West Wales from 1974 to 1996. Until 1987 the name of the district was Preseli. The district took its name from the Preseli Hills.
Creation
Th ...
in
2005 (5th, 498 votes), and
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...
in
2015 (3rd, 7,774 votes). He was also sixth on the party list for
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in the
1999 European election.
Carver is of
Romanichal
Romanichal Travellers ( ; more commonly known as English Gypsies or English Travellers) are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. There are an estimated 200,000 Romani in the United Kingdom ...
descent on his grandmother's side, giving rise to his interest in fostering better relationships with traveller communities.
He believes that he is the only British Parliamentarian from a Romany background.
He has also helped raise both money and awareness for the charity Scleroderma and Raynauds UK (SRUK) Society following the death of his first wife from
scleroderma
Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas ...
in 2009.
He re-married in late 2014.
In April 2017, Carver resigned as UKIP's foreign affairs spokesperson following the party's promise to ban the wearing of the burqa in public. He said that "no one has the right to dictate what people should wear", and that the policy undermined his ability to represent British Muslims in his constituency.
In August 2017, Carver endorsed
Henry Bolton in the
UKIP leadership election, citing his credentials to restructure the party. Following the election of Bolton as leader of UKIP, Carver was appointed assistant deputy leader.
On 28 May 2018, after 22 years membership, Carver resigned from UKIP in frustration at what he perceived as a lurch to the right. Carver resigned from UKIP and then sat as an independent MEP until the end of the
Eighth European Parliament
The eighth European Parliament was elected in the 2014 elections and lasted until the 2019 elections.
Major events
* 22–25 May 2014
** Elections to the Eighth Parliament.
* 1 July 2014
** First meeting (constitutive session) of the Eighth Pa ...
, stating that he had become "out of kilter" with the party.
One of a handful of the former UKIP MEPs who chose not to designate with Reform UK, he did not stand for re-election at the 2019 European election and switched support to the Conservatives at the General Election on their manifesto pledge to complete the formal process of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.
He stood as a Conservative candidate in the 2021 local elections for his home ward of Nunnery, on Worcester City Council, becoming the first Conservative district councillor to win a seat in that ward for around 50 years taking 50% of the vote with a majority of 322 over his Labour opponent.
In February 2022, he resigned his council seat just ten months into his three year term of office after becoming disillusioned with the local Conservative party.
Elections contested
UK Parliament elections
European Parliament elections (Multi-member constituency; party list)
Member of the European Parliament
Carver was first elected to the European Parliament in
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
. He serves on the
European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs The Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET, after the French name ‘Affaires étrangères’), previously called Political Affairs, is a committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for the common foreign, security, and defence policy of t ...
.
Among the topics Carver has raised are:
* EU expansionism and military confrontation
* Economic issues and hardships arising from the eurozone
* The role of the EU operating outside of international law either at home and abroad
He also supports:
* Fostering better understanding of the gypsy communities and how to integrate with mainstream society
* The banning of legal highs
* Recognition of Somaliland
* Addressing the rise of Islamist extremism in the Middle East and Europe
Carver was critical of EU's policy in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, claiming that its actions did not comply with the founding treaties of the EU. He stated that structures built by the EU in a number of Beduin encampments outside
Ma'aleh Adumim
Ma'ale Adumim ( he, מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים; ar, معالي أدوميم) is an urban Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, seven kilometers () east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991. ...
and on the Jerusalem-Jericho road bearing the EU logo are disrespectful of the rule of law: "EU member states would not allow such behavior within their own borders, nor would the EU endorse or find it anywhere within the European Union."
On 28 May 2018, Carver resigned from UKIP to sit as an independent MEP.
References
External links
Profile at European Parliament websiteJames Carver's websiteScleroderma Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carver, James
1969 births
Living people
MEPs for England 2014–2019
UK Independence Party MEPs
UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates
British Eurosceptics