Robin James Hunter-Clarke is a British politician. He has served as a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

lor, and has stood as a candidate for election to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and local councils. He was formerly Chief of Staff to Neil Hamilton and

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 pa ...

in the

Senedd The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

. He was an unsuccessful candidate in both the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

and 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. I ...

. He served as the national UKIP co-ordinator for

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leavi ...

, the official leave campaign during the European Union referendum.

Political career

Hunter-Clarke began his political career at the age of eighteen, when he was elected as a town councillor in the May 2011 local elections. He was elected to

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, i ...

Town Council, standing for the

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 ...

. He defected to 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 September 2012 at the party's national conference in Birmingham, making him the only UKIP member of Skegness town council. In the May 2013 local elections, he was the UKIP candidate for the Skegness South Seat division of

Lincolnshire County Council Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. He took the seat, beating the incumbent Conservative councillor, while his father Dean Hunter-Clarke won the Skegness North Seat for UKIP. Hunter-Clarke won the seat while a law student at the

University of Chester , mottoeng = "He that teacheth, on teaching" , former_names = , established = (gained university status in 2005) , type = Public , endowment = £395,000 (2018) , budget = £118.3 million , chancellor = Gyles Brandreth , vice_chancello ...

. Hunter-Clarke was elected onto UKIP's National Executive Committee in 2014. On 20 November 2014, Hunter-Clarke, then 22, was announced as UKIP's parliamentary candidate in the seat of Boston and Skegness. Being considered winnable, this was a key seat for the party, but Hunter-Clarke was ultimately defeated by the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' journalist

Matt Warman Matthew Robert Warman (born 1 September 1981) is a British Conservative Party politician and former journalist who served as Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from July to September 2022. He has been the ...

. After the general election, Hunter-Clarke became the national UKIP co-ordinator for the fledgling referendum campaign

. This prompted UKIP to release a statement, as the party was currently backing neither Vote Leave nor Grassroots Out for the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

's designation. In 2016, he was an unsuccessful candidate in the council by-election for the

Gibbonsdown Gibbonsdown, colloquially known as 'Gibby', is a residential area and electoral ward situated in the north east of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Gibbonsdown borders Merthyr Dyfan to the northwest and Cadoxton to the southeast. Crime In ...

ward in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, achieving 54 votes. Neighbouring Skegness Town Council Councillor Kevin Mahoney said of the occurrence, Together with fellow UKIP candidate Melanie Hunter-Clarke, he was also an unsuccessful candidate for councillor in the Welsh council ward of

Llantwit Major Llantwit Major ( cy, Llanilltud Fawr) is a town and community in Wales on the Bristol Channel coast. It is one of four towns in the Vale of Glamorgan, with the third largest population (13,366 in 2001) after Barry and Penarth, and ahead of Cowb ...

in 2017, receiving 112 votes. Hunter-Clarke was Neil Hamilton's agent for the National Assembly for Wales election in May 2016. On Hamilton's election, he made Hunter-Clarke his personal chief of staff. After Hamilton was elected as the group leader, Hunter-Clarke became chief of staff for the group. Hunter-Clarke announced his intention to stand in the

2016 Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election A by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Sleaford and North Hykeham in Lincolnshire, England, was held on 8 December 2016. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative member of parliament (MP) Stephen Phillips, ...

, a neighbouring seat to Boston & Skegness, but later withdrew from the contest. In June 2018 Hunter-Clarke was dismissed as the group's

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

in the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

after

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 ...

AM ousted Hamilton as the Leader of the UKIP Group. Hunter-Clarke consequently took Jones and the UKIP Assembly Members to an employment tribunal. At a preliminary hearing on 28 February 2019 the

Assembly Commission The Senedd Commission () is the corporate body for the Senedd of Wales. The Commission is responsible for ensuring the property, staff and services are provided for the Senedd. The Commission consists of the Presiding Officer and four Member ...

, Michelle Brown AM and Caroline Jones AM failed in their applications to be removed as respondents in the case. The case continued, and a three-day preliminary hearing was listed to be heard in June 2019. On 3, 4, and 5 June 2019 a three-day hearing took place in

Pontypridd () (colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng (Trallwn) and Treforest (). The ...

to determine who in fact employed Hunter-Clarke, as still no-one admitted to being his boss. On 4 June it was suggested that Hunter-Clarke had indeed not been dismissed and therefore was entitled to a year's back pay. Following the evidence heard Hunter-Clarke withdrew his claims against the

, Caroline Jones and the UKIP Group. This left Neil Hamilton as the sole respondent in the case. Hunter-Clarke's representative subsequently outlined that it was now clear 'Mr Hamilton was trying to make a political point at Mr Hunter-Clarke's expense'. On 19 June 2019, Judge Moore ruled that Neil Hamilton was Hunter-Clarke's employer for the purposes of S230 of the

Employment Rights Act 1996 The Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament passed by the Conservative government to codify existing law on individual rights in UK labour law. History Previous statutes, dating from the Contracts of Employment ...

. Hunter-Clarke stood as a candidate for 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 ...

in the

in the constituency of Ogmore, receiving 660 votes. Hunter-Clarke unsuccessfully contested the Dereham Withburga ward in

Breckland District Breckland is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Dereham. The district had a population of 130,491 at the 2011 Census. The district derives its name from the Breckland landscape region, a gorse-covered sandy ...

in the

2023 United Kingdom local elections 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, receiving 305 votes; his affiliation was described as "Local Conservatives".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter-Clarke, Robin Alumni of the University of Chester Conservative Party (UK) councillors Living people Members of Lincolnshire County Council People from Boston, Lincolnshire UK Independence Party politicians