David Kurten

David Michael Kurten AM (born 22 March 1971) is a British politician and former teacher who has been a member of the London Assembly since the 2016 London Assembly election. Elected as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, he subsequently left the party in January 2020.[1] He characterises himself as a social conservative.[2]

David Kurten

AM
Kurten at City Hall in 2018
UKIP Spokesperson for Education
In office
30 November 2016 – 5 December 2018
LeaderPaul Nuttall
Henry Bolton
Gerard Batten
Preceded byPaul Nuttall
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Member of the London Assembly
as the 11th Additional Member
Assumed office
6 May 2016
Preceded byMurad Qureshi
Personal details
Born (1971-03-22) 22 March 1971
Littlehampton, Sussex, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyIndependent (since 2020)
Other political
affiliations		Brexit Alliance
UK Independence Party (until 2020)
Alma materUniversity of St Andrews
University of Bath
University of Southampton
OccupationPolitician

Early life

Born to a British mother and Jamaican father, Kurten graduated with a first-class BSc in Chemistry from the University of St Andrews in 1993, a PGCE from the University of Bath in 1995, and completed a MRes in Chemistry at the University of Southampton in 1998.[3] Before entering politics, he had taught the subject for over 15 years in both private and state schools in the UK, Bermuda, Bosnia–Herzegovina, Botswana and the USA.[4]

Political career

Kurten was second on the UK Independence Party additional member list in the 2016 London Assembly election and succeeded in being elected to the London Assembly.[5][6]

In October 2016, Kurten announced his intention to stand for UKIP leader following the resignation of Diane James after just 18 days.[7] However, he withdrew from the contest and joined fellow London Assembly Member Peter Whittle in endorsing Paul Nuttall.[8] Following the contest, Nuttall appointed Kurten as UKIP Education spokesperson on 30 November 2016.[9]

Kurten was seen as a front-runner to lead the party in the 2017 UKIP leadership election.[10][11] He said in August 2017 during the leadership campaign that he opposes same-sex marriage[12] and also faced criticism when he claimed that gay people are more likely to have been abused as children. Kurten's UKIP colleague Peter Whittle retorted: "Neither I, nor any of the gay friends and colleagues I have known over 35 years, were sexually abused."[13] When Henry Bolton was elected as leader in October 2017, Kurten finished in third place.

Kurten stepped down from the UKIP frontbench on 22 January 2018 in protest at Bolton's refusal to stand down as leader after he received a vote of no confidence from UKIP's National Executive Committee the previous day.[14] He returned after Gerard Batten became leader on 14 April.

In the May 2018 local elections, Kurten contested his local Sidcup ward in the London Borough of Bexley but he failed to be elected.[15] He then unsuccessfully stood as UKIP's candidate in the Lewisham East by-election on 14 June 2018,[16] getting 380 votes (1.7%) and coming sixth.[17]

In December 2018, Kurten again resigned from the UKIP frontbench, this time on account of the anti-Islam direction of UKIP under the party's then-leader Gerard Batten, most significantly Batten's appointment of far-right activist Tommy Robinson as an "advisor".[18] He remained a member of the party, but disbanded the UKIP group on the London Assembly forming the Brexit Alliance group with Peter Whittle, who had resigned his UKIP membership altogether following Robinson's appointment.[19]

In October 2019, Kurten announced his intention to stand as a UKIP candidate in the constituency of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton in the 2019 general election after the Brexit Party announced they would not be contesting seats won by the Conservative Party in the 2017 election.[20]

In January 2020, Kurten announced he would be running as an independent candidate in the upcoming London mayoral and London Assembly elections (then scheduled for 2020 but both elections later postponed to 2021).[21] He then formed the Heritage Party as a limited company in May of that year, which applied for registration with the Electoral Commission on 17 July.[22][23]

References
  1. "David Kurten announces run for Mayor of London". Times Series. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  2. David Kurten - Social Conservatism, YouTube, retrieved 13 August 2019
  3. ‘KURTEN, David Michael’, Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017
  4. 22: David Kurten on why he joined UKIP and the party's role in Britain's future, retrieved 9 November 2019
  5. "Results 2016". London Elects. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  6. "London Mayoral Election 2016: Labour dominate vote". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  7. Kurten, David (18 October 2016). "I am pleased to announce my intention to stand in the UKIP leadership election". Twitter. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  8. Bloom, Dan (28 November 2016). "Who will be the next Ukip leader and who dropped out?". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  9. "David Kurten AM appointed as Education and Apprenticeships Spokesman". UKIP. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  10. "An anti-Islam campaigner vies to lead Britain's populist right-wing party". The Economist. 17 August 2018.
  11. "An anti-Islam campaigner vies to lead Britain's populist right-wing party". The Economist. 17 August 2018.
  12. "UKIP leadership hopefuls includes 3 LGBT people and 2 anti-LGBT candidates". Pink News. 11 August 2017.
  13. "UKIP leadership candidate sparks backlash by suggesting gay people were more likely to be abused as kids". Daily Mirror. 9 August 2017.
  14. Maidment, Jack (22 January 2018). "Henry Bolton under intense pressure to quit as Ukip leader after eight senior figures resign from frontbench roles". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  15. "2018 Election Results for Sidcup". democracy.bexley.gov.uk. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  16. @GerardBattenMEP (14 May 2018). "I am very pleased that David Kurten AM has been selected as the UKIP candidate for the Lewisham East By-Election on 14th June" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. "Labour hold Lewisham East in by-election". BBC News. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  18. "David Kurten". David Kurten.
  19. "Ukip London Assembly members form new Brexit Alliance group". Evening Standard. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  20. Kurten, David (12 November 2019). "I am delighted to announce: I will be standing in the general election for @UKIP in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. I will be the only Brexiteer standing against a Tory Remainer". @davidkurten. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  21. Mathewson, Jessie. "David Kurten announces run for Mayor of London". Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  22. "HERITAGE PARTY - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  23. "View current applications | Electoral Commission". web.archive.org. 18 July 2020.
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