Timür Mark "Tim" Aker (born 23 May 1985) is a British politician who was 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 ...

for the East of England region. He was elected as a

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) candidate 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 was head of UKIP's Policy Unit from August 2013 to January 2015, and was UKIP's candidate for the Thurrock constituency in the 2015 general election, coming third in a close 3-way election. Aker left UKIP and joined the

Thurrock Independents The Thurrock Independents, also known as the Thurrock Independents Party (TIP), are a localist and populist British political party based in Thurrock, Essex, England. It was formed in January 2018 when seventeen Thurrock councillors, including ...

where he also successfully sought election a councillor in 2018, before later joining the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant ...

Early life

Aker was born in

Orsett Orsett is a village, former civil parish and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1771. History It has historic ...

to a Turkish father and an English mother, and grew up in

Aveley Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom c ...

. He attended Havering Sixth Form College. He went on to study at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

, graduating with a BA in History and Politics. He was previously campaign director for Get Britain Out and a coordinator for the

TaxPayers' Alliance The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom which was formed in 2004 to campaign for a low-tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008 and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010. However ...

Political career

Referred to by ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' as one of UKIP's most recognisable figures, Aker stood unsuccessfully in the constituency of

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...

in the 2015 general election (although he gained nearly 32% of the vote and came within 1000 votes of the winning candidate). On 20 January 2015, Aker quit as UKIP's Head of Policy, with some press reporting that he was sacked for failing to complete the party's manifesto on time, a claim which the party denied. Appointed as Local Government spokesman by Henry Bolton in October 2017, Aker left this post after Bolton failed to resign as leader following a vote of no confidence from UKIP's National Executive Committee. After the ousting of Bolton as leader, Aker left UKIP. As of December 2018, he sat in the European Parliament as a

MEP, while remaining a member of the

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD or EFD²) was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) g ...

parliamentary group. From February 2019 until the UK's departure from the EU, Aker sat in the European Parliament for the

. He also resigned his seat on Thurrock council having moved away from the area.

Elections contested

European Parliament elections (Multi-member constituency; party list) United Kingdom general elections (Single-member constituencies) Thurrock Borough Council by-election (Single-member ward)

After Politics

He resigned as a Councillor in February 2019 and chose not to seek re-election as an MEP in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. He briefly worked for Amazon before being appointed as the Development Manager for the

Federation of Small Businesses The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is a UK business organisation representing small and medium-sized businesses. It was formed in 1974 as the National Federation of Self Employed (NFSE). The current name for the organisation was adopted in ...

in Kent and Medway.

Personal life

Aker claims to have a private property portfolio and completed an MA in 20th Century British History at the University of Buckingham in March 2022, where he is now a PhD student.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aker, Tim 1985 births Alumni of the University of Nottingham English people of Turkish descent Living people MEPs for England 2014–2019 People from Aveley People from Orsett Politics of Thurrock Brexit Party MEPs UK Independence Party MEPs Thurrock Independents MEPs UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates People educated at Havering Sixth Form College Councillors in Essex Conservative Party (UK) politicians British Eurosceptics