Freddy Vachha

Freddy Vachha (born December 1957)[1] is a British businessman and politician who has served as leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) since June 2020.

Freddy Vachha
Leader of the UK Independence Party
Assumed office
22 June 2020
DeputyPat Mountain
Preceded byRichard Braine
Pat Mountain (interim)
Personal details
Born
Freddy Vachha

December 1957 (age 62)
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Political partyUK Independence Party
Spouse(s)
Julie Butler
(
m. 1991)
ResidenceChingford, London, England
Alma materCity of London Polytechnic
Princeton University
University of Bombay
St. Xavier's College, Mumbai

Early life

Freddy Vachha was born in Bombay, India, in December 1957.[2] Between 1977 and 1980, he worked as a private tutor in mathematics and physics in India. Between 1980 and 1981, he studied accounting and obtained a Diploma in Accountancy. In 1981, he worked at the accounting firm Ernst & Whinney as a trainee, where he remained until 1984. Between 1984 and 1995, he ran his own computer software company Digital Precision, developing software for the Sinclair QL.[3]

Vachha has Indian Parsi heritage.[4][5]

Political career

Vachha was the UKIP candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green in the 2015 general election, standing against Iain Duncan Smith who was serving as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions at the time. During a hustings event, he said that the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was caused by mass immigration.[6]

Vachha was a candidate for the 2016 London Assembly election in the North East constituency but was not elected.[7] He stood as a candidate in Old Bexley and Sidcup in the 2017 general election, coming fourth.[8] He competed for one of London's seats in the 2019 European Parliament election[9] but was not elected. In the same year, he unsuccessfully ran for UKIP leader in that year's leadership election but came second to Richard Braine.[10] He co-ordinated the party's national campaign for the 2019 general election.[11][12]

He became leader of UKIP in June 2020, saying that the party "went astray quite a few years ago" and that under his leadership it would "return to our libertarian freedom-loving principles".[13][2]

gollark: What if you use the direct link in VLC or something?
gollark: It might be a poor connection to it, but 128kbps is basically nothing.
gollark: This even counts as a listener for OIR™.
gollark: Indeed.
gollark: * speak

References
  1. http://www.heritageanddestiny.com/ukips-new-bombay-born-leader/
  2. Read, Jonathon (22 June 2020). "UKIP's new leader - who lists Nazi Germany as interest - says party is 'back on track'". The New European. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  3. "New Ukip leader's interesting CV". 22 June 2020.
  4. Glanvill, Natalie (16 October 2014). "Indian-born Ukip candidate predicts defeat for Iain Duncan Smith". East London & West Essex Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  5. arZan (1 August 2019). "Freddy Vachha To Stand for Election As Leader of UK Independance Party". Parsi Khabar. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  6. Vale, Paul (28 April 2015). "Ukip Candidate Freddy Vachha Blames Mass Immigration For The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict". HuffPost. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  7. "Election 2016: London Mayor and Assembly candidates". BBC News. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  8. "Election results: How did your constituency vote?". Sky News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  9. "2019 European elections: List of candidates for London". BBC News. 28 April 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  10. "Richard Braine elected as UKIP leader". BBC News. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  11. Clark, Jonathan (22 November 2019). "UKIP Campaign Manager: If I had a time machine, I would stop us standing in Moray". [Northern Scot]]. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  12. Savage, Michael (8 October 2019). "On the stump: the campaign that shame forgot". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  13. "New leader: 'Time for Ukip to get back to business'". BBC News. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
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