John Tennant (born 25 December 1986) is a British politician, who was a

Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, 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 bri ...

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

North East of England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

between

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 ...

and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU. and the former party leader of

Independent Union An independent unions is a trade union that represents workers in one plant or company and is free of employer control. (This includes a union representing workers in more than one plant located in two or more states but employed by the same employ ...

, of which he is a councillor on Hartlepool Borough Council for the Jesmond ward. In September 2019, all IU councillors, as well as the one

Veterans and People's Party The Veterans and People's Party (VPP) is a minor political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded in mid-May 2017 by seven British military veterans to contest the 2017 United Kingdom general election. In the 2019 United Kingdom local e ...

councillor, who made up the coalition at Hartlepool Borough Council defected to the Brexit Party, renaming their already existing coalition with the three Conservative councillors to the "Brexit and Conservative Coalition". Despite this, the IU was still registered with 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 ...

with Tennant listed as its current leader. Tennant stepped down from the IU leadership in February 2020 and was replaced by Shane Moore.

2019 European Parliament election

In May 2019, it was announced John Tennant was standing as a

candidate 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 peopl ...

for

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. Upon the announcement, Tennant was criticised for comments he made on social media, praising the

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 ...

MEP

Godfrey Bloom Godfrey William Bloom TD (born 22 November 1949) is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber from 2004 to 2014. He was elected for the UK Independence Party in the European elect ...

on the day he was ejected from the European parliament for addressing German colleague,

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018, and was a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. Previously he was President of the European Parliame ...

, the then leader of the

German Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

, with a Nazi slogan in 2010, and then another involving a joke he made regarding sex acts with a young woman in 2011. A spokesperson for the Brexit Party described his comments, which included discussing sex toys in "vulgar and obscene terms" and suggesting

Liverpool FC Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

fans are criminals, as "weak jokes". Tennant, the former UKIP group leader for Hartlepool Borough Council, is said to have a close relationship with

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...

whilst he was a

councillor, organising his public events in the North East, according to a former UKIP advisor. According to Hartleborough Borough Council's ''Register of Members' Disclosable Pecuniary Interests'', in May 2018 Tennant declared his profession as "office manager" to former UKIP and current Brexit Party MEP,

Jonathan Arnott Jonathan William Arnott (born 12 January 1981) is a British politician and former schoolteacher. After the 2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, 2014 European Parliament election, he served as a Member of the European Parliam ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennant, John 1986 births Living people Independent Union (political party) Brexit Party MEPs MEPs for England 2019–2020 Councillors in Hartlepool Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom UK Independence Party councillors