Rupert Oliver Matthews (born 5 December 1961) is a British

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 ...

politician serving as the Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner since 2021. He previously 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 East Midlands from June 2017 until his term ended on 1 July 2019, and has authored books on the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

Career

Matthews was educated at Esher Grammar School and worked as a freelance writer and journalist. He has written over 170 books on history, ghosts,

cryptozoology Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

paranormal activity Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

, guides to the UK and children's stories. Matthews is the editorial director and a shareholder of Bretwalda Books. Matthews has also run an online course about the paranormal for the International Metaphysical University, on whose website he was described as a 'Professor' until mid-January 2012.

Politics

He served as a councillor for St Mark's ward in Surbiton in

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, and at the 1997 general election he stood for the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

in the safe

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constituency of

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. Matthews was selected as a Conservative candidate for the 2009 European Parliament election and was placed third on the Conservative party list for the East Midlands. He was not elected. On 12 October 2011,

Roger Helmer Roger Helmer (born 25 January 1944) is a British politician and businessman. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands region from 1999 to 2017. Before becoming an MEP, he was a business executive. Helmer was electe ...

, an MEP for the East Midlands constituency, announced that he would resign from the European Parliament at the end of the year. He expected to be replaced by Matthews, who was in next position on the Conservative party list in the East Midlands. However, after uncertainty was expressed as to whether the party would approve Matthews as the new MEP, Helmer announced he would delay standing down until the position was clarified and Matthews confirmed as his successor. The Conservative Party was reported to be looking into the fact that

golliwog The golliwog, also spelled golliwogg or shortened to golly, is a doll-like character – created by cartoonist and author Florence Kate Upton – that appeared in children's books in the late 19th century, usually depicted as a type of rag ...

dolls featured on the front cover of a book on political correctness published by Bretwalda Books. It was later reported that Matthews was not personally involved in publishing the book. In March 2012, Helmer defected to

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 ...

and remained an MEP; he was re-elected in 2014. For the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

Matthews was again placed third on the Conservative party list for the East Midlands and, again, missed being elected. In 2014, Matthews took up a position as National Campaigns Director at

Better Off Out Better Off Out (BOO) is the name of a non-party campaign that called for the United Kingdom (UK)'s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). It is run by The Freedom Association, a pressure group that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-ri ...

. He led Better Off Out's campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, liaising with the official campaign (

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) as well as with

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and Grassroots Out. During this time, he supervised the production of leaflets, posters and other campaign materials as well as organising their distribution to the public in the run-up to the 2016 European Union membership referendum. He finally became an MEP for the East Midlands on 29 June 2017, replacing

Andrew Lewer Andrew Iain Lewer (born 18 July 1971 in Burnley, Lancashire) is a British Conservative Party politician. Elected as the Member of Parliament for Northampton South in the 2017 general election, he previously served as Member of the European Pa ...

after Lewer was elected to the House of Commons. Matthews was not elected in the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peop ...

. He reportedly believed at one time that the

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could have enabled the

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to invade Britain were the country ever to attempt to leave the

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, or have enabled the Commission to request a German

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(tank) division be sent to London were the situation to warrant it. Matthews was elected in 2021 as Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner for the Conservative Party, succeeding the incumbent, The Lord Bach, who was stepping down.

Selected bibliography

*''Monster Mysteries'' with Bernard Long (Hove, England: Wayland, 1988 ) *''The First Settlements'' with Bernard Long (Hove, England: Wayland, 1990 ) *''Alien Encounters'' (Chartwell Books, Inc., 2009 )

References

External links

RupertMatthews.org.ukRupert Matthews , Conservative Home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Rupert 1961 births Living people People from Epsom and Ewell (district) English science fiction writers English writers on paranormal topics Paranormal investigators Conservative Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 2014–2019