David Richard Bull (born 9 May 1969) is an English television presenter, author and politician. He served as Reform UK's Deputy Leader from 2021 to 2023 and as Co-Deputy Leader, alongside Ben Habib, from 2023 to 2024.[1] He was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England from 2019 to 2020.
David Bull | |
|---|---|
 Bull in 2020 | |
| Deputy Leader of Reform UK | |
| In office 11 March 2021 – 11 July 2024 Serving with Ben Habib (2023–2024) | |
| Leader | Richard Tice Nigel Farage |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Richard Tice |
| Member of the European Parliament for North West England | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Steven Woolfe |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 May 1969 Farnborough, London, England |
| Political party | Reform UK (since 2019) |
| Other political affiliations | Conservative (before 2019) |
| Education | Framlingham College |
| Alma mater | Imperial College London |
| Occupation | Television presenter, author, politician |
| Website | davidbull.com |
Bull studied at St Mary's Hospital Medical School at Imperial College London and worked as a pre-registration and then senior house officer at St Mary's Hospital, Ealing Hospital and Whittington Hospital. He began a career in broadcasting in 1995 and has presented or appeared as a commentator on numerous shows. As well as appearing on British television, he has presented Sugar Dome and appeared on The Rachael Ray Show in the US.
In 2006, Bull was selected as the Conservative candidate for Brighton Pavilion for the following general election. He stood down in 2009 to head up a Conservative policy review on sexual health and was replaced by Charlotte Vere. He joined the Brexit Party, later Reform UK, in 2019 and was elected as one of their MEPs for North West England at that year's European Parliament election. He stood down upon the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU in January 2020. He became Deputy Leader of Reform UK in March 2021. In 2022, he became a presenter on TalkTV. At the 2024 general election he stood in West Suffolk and came third with 20.8% of the vote. Shortly after the election he was replaced as deputy leader by Richard Tice.
Early life
editDavid Richard Bull was born in Farnborough, London, to Richard and Pauline Bull, and moved to Framlingham in Suffolk, at the age of four with his siblings Anthony and Katie. He attended Fairfield Preparatory School, Ipswich Preparatory School and Framlingham College.[citation needed] He studied at St Mary's Hospital Medical School at Imperial College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine degree, a Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS) and a Bachelor of Science honours degree (BSc) in 1993.[citation needed]
Medical career
editBull was a pre-registration house officer at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington and worked for the NHS in the fields of emergency medicine at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, and general medicine and emergency medicine at Whittington Hospital in London.[2][non-primary source needed] He continued to work as a junior doctor in general medicine, surgery and accident and emergency.[3][non-primary source needed]
Bull had his licence to practise temporarily restored in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (his licence to practise had previously ceased in 2009 and 2017).[4] He is currently not licensed to practice medicine in the UK.
Media career
editIn 1995, Bull auditioned to be a guest commentator for The Sky Travel Guide on Sky Travel. Of the auditioning process Bull recalled, "I had to read autocue, I had to interview someone, and I had to handle a live show...you can't beat that sort of experience." Bull was awarded the position on Sky Travel, giving advice for the holiday health feature to those travelling abroad, and beginning his career as a television commentator and presenter.[5]
Bull joined the long-running children's news programme Newsround as a presenter and producer of segments regarding children's health. Whilst on Newsround, Bull became a regular on Saturday morning shows for CBBC including The Weather Show, Saturday Aardvark, K Club and Bitesize Debate specials. He also hosted, in his role as a doctor, Why Me? and Call the Doctor. Bull then became the sole presenter of Tell Me About It! for New Zealand's C4 TV station. Aimed at young people, the five-instalment programme tackled issues including eating disorders, parental divorces and teen drug use and alcoholism.
In 1998, Bull published his first book, Cool and Celibate?: Sex and No Sex, arguing the benefits of abstinence in teenagers. Bull followed this with What Every Girl Should Know: An A to Z of Health-From Allergies to Zits! in 1999.[6]
Bull joined the BBC's Watchdog in 1999. While on Watchdog, he also appeared on Holiday, Let's Get Healthy, The Really Useful Show, Daily Live and This Morning. He then hosted Watchdog Healthcheck, a weekly, half-hour health programme running from 2001 to 2002.
Bull also presented the science and technology-centred Tomorrow's World, before presenting Most Haunted on Living TV. Bull appeared on Live TV's highest rated series, Most Haunted Live! from October 2002 to October 2005, hosting three-hour instalments that featured paranormal investigations broadcast live with interactive sections involving the audience. > He has also made appearances on The Wright Stuff, The Jeremy Vine Show, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, and Richard & Judy.
Bull made his American television debut in 2010 as a contributor on the daytime talk show The Rachael Ray Show. In 2012, Bull started hosting for Food Network's series Sugar Dome which is broadcast in the US, Canada, Asia and the UK.[7] He has also co-presented Coast vs Country on Channel 4.
In 2013, Bull appeared in the romantic comedy film Cavemen.
In 2019, after he and a number of Brexit Party MEPs appeared on The Richie Allen Show, the anti-racist advocacy group Hope not Hate reported on the far-right and antisemitic contents of the show.[8]
In 2022, Bull joined TalkTV as the co-host of its Weekend Breakfast Show.[9]
Political career
editIn December 2006, Bull was selected to fight the parliamentary seat of Brighton Pavilion at the 2010 general election for the Conservative Party, after being placed on the party's A-List earlier that year. He withdrew his candidacy in June 2009 and was replaced by Charlotte Vere.[10] Denying rumours that he quit after falling out with party leadership, Bull cited the increased workload accompanying his recent appointment to head up a Conservative policy review on sexual health with Shadow Health Minister Anne Milton.[11][12]
In April 2019, Bull was announced as a Brexit Party candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election.[13] He was duly returned as an MEP for the North West England constituency in the election held on 23 May.[14] Later, in August of that year, Bull was adopted as the Brexit Party's prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich then subsequently Sedgefield in the 2019 general election.[15]
Bull was among the UK MEPs who stood down following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020.[16]
On 11 March 2021, Bull was made deputy leader of Reform UK.[17]
In March 2021, Bull was announced as the Reform UK candidate for the City and East constituency in the 2021 London Assembly election.[18] He came fifth.[19]
In 2024, Bull ran as the Reform UK candidate for the West Suffolk constituency for the U.K. General election. Bull came in third with 20.3% of the vote, losing to Nick Timothy and behind the Labour Party.
Business and charitable work
editIn 2000, Bull founded a creative branding company, Incredibull.[20] He sold his interest in the business in 2017.
Bull is a supporter of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the British Red Cross, Cancer Research and The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and has worked with young people in schools on behalf of the organisation.[21][failed verification]
Personal life
editBull is gay. In 2007 he appeared at the Brighton Pride Parade for which he designed and wore a t-shirt with the slogan "I've come out... I'm a Tory", saying it was acceptable to be gay and a Conservative.[11]
Electoral history
edit2024 general election
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Nick Timothy | 15,814 | 34.3 | –30.0 | |
| Labour | Rebecca Denness | 12,567 | 27.2 | +5.0 | |
| Reform UK | David Bull | 9,623 | 20.8 | N/A | |
| Liberal Democrats | Henry Batchelor | 4,284 | 9.3 | +0.3 | |
| Green | Mark Ereira-Guyer | 2,910 | 6.3 | +1.8 | |
| Independent | Katie Parker | 485 | 1.1 | N/A | |
| Independent | Luke O'Brien | 345 | 0.7 | N/A | |
| SDP | Ivan Kinsman | 133 | 0.3 | N/A | |
| Majority | 3,247 | 7.1 | –35.1 | ||
| Turnout | 46,331 | 60.1 | –4.6 | ||
| Registered electors | 77,149 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | –17.5 | |||
2021 London Assembly election
edit| Party | Candidate | Constituency | List | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Labour | Unmesh Desai[a] | 125,025 | 56.7 |  1.1
|
116,148 | 53.32 | 4.29
| |
| Conservative | Nick Vandyke | 46,718 | 21.2 |  5.8
|
44,957 | 20.64 | 6.26
| |
| Green | Tim Kiely | 25,596 | 11.6 | 2.7
|
20,106 | 9.23 | 2.54
| |
| Liberal Democrats | Richard Flowers | 14,136 | 6.4 | 1.4
|
9,001 | 4.13 | 0.44
| |
| Rejoin EU | 4,724 | 2.17 | New | |||||
| Animal Welfare | 3,651 | 1.68 | 0.86
| |||||
| Women's Equality | 3,431 | 1.58 | 1.12
| |||||
| CPA | 2,992 | 1.37 | 0.11
| |||||
| UKIP | 2,734 | 1.26 | 5.42
| |||||
| Reform UK | David Bull | 9,060 | 4.1 | New | 2,459 | 1.13 | New | |
| London Real | 2,189 | 1.00 | New | |||||
| Let London Live | 1,649 | 0.76 | New | |||||
| Heritage | 986 | 0.45 | New | |||||
| Londependence Party | 850 | 0.39 | New | |||||
| Communist | 849 | 0.39 | New | |||||
| TUSC | 950 | 0.43 | New | |||||
| SDP | 691 | 0.32 | New | |||||
| National Liberal | 395 | 0.18 | New | |||||
| Majority | 78,307 | 35.5 | 6.9
| |||||
| Turnout | 220,535 | |||||||
| Labour hold | Swing | |||||||
2019 general election
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Paul Howell | 19,609 | 47.2 | 8.4
| |
| Labour | Phil Wilson | 15,096 | 36.3 | 17.1
| |
| Brexit Party | David Bull | 3,518 | 8.5 | N/A | |
| Liberal Democrats | Dawn Welsh | 1,955 | 4.7 | 2.8
| |
| Green | John Furness | 994 | 2.4 | 0.7
| |
| Independent | Michael Joyce | 394 | 0.9 | N/A | |
| Majority | 4,513 | 10.9 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 41,576 | 64.6 | 0.5
| ||
| Registered electors | 64,325 | ||||
| Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | +12.8 | |||
2019 European elections
edit| European Election 2019: North West England[26] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| List | Candidates | Votes | Of total (%) | ± from prev. | |
| Brexit Party | Claire Fox (1) Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen (4) David Bull (7) Gary Harvey, Ajay Jagota, Elizabeth Babade, Sally Bate, John Banks |
541,843 (180,614) |
31.23 | New | |
| Labour | Theresa Griffin (2) Julie Ward (6) Wajid Khan, Erica Lewis, David Brennan, Claire Cozler, Saf Ismail, Yvonne Tennant |
380,193 (190,096) |
21.91 | –11.94 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Chris Davies (3) Jane Brophy (8) Helen Foster-Grime, Anna Fryer, Sam Al-Hamdani, Rebecca Forrest, John Studholme, Frederick Van Mierlo |
297,507 (148,753) |
17.15 | +11.14 | |
| Green | Gina Dowding (5) Wendy Kay Olsen, Jessica Northey, Geraldine Coggins, Rosie Mills, Astrid Johnson, Daniel Jerrome, James Booth |
216,581 | 12.48 | +5.47 | |
| Conservative | Sajjad Karim, Kevin Beaty, Jane Howard, Arnold Saunders, Wendy Maisey, Thomas Lord, Anthony Pickles, Attika Choudhary | 131,002 | 7.55 | –12.51 | |
| UKIP | Adam Richardson, Jeff Armstrong, Fiona Mills, Nathan Ryding, Michael Felse, Ben Fryer, John Booker, Alexander Craig | 62,464 | 3.60 | –23.86 | |
| Change UK | Andrea Cooper, Dan Price, Arun Banerji, Michael Taylor, Philippa Olive, Victoria Desmond, Andrew Graystone, Elisabeth Knight | 47,237 | 2.72 | New | |
| Independent | Tommy Robinson | 38,908 | 2.24 | New | |
| English Democrat | Stephen Morris, Valerie Morris | 10,045 | 0.58 | –0.53 | |
| UKEU | Sophie Larroque | 7,125 | 0.41 | New | |
| Independent | Mohammad Aslam | 2,002 | 0.12 | New | |
| Turnout | 1,744,858 | 33.11 | –0.39 | ||
2024 United Kingdom general election
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Nick Timothy | 15,814 | 34.3 | 30.3
| |
| Labour | Rebecca Denness | 12,567 | 27.2 | 5.0
| |
| Reform UK | David Bull | 9,623 | 20.8 | New | |
| Liberal Democrats | Henry Batchelor | 4,284 | 9.3 | 0.2
| |
| Green | Mark Ereira-Guyer | 2,910 | 6.3 | 1.8
| |
| Independent | Katie Parker | 485 | 1.1 | New | |
| Independent | Luke O'Brien | 345 | 0.7 | New | |
| SDP | Ivan Kinsman | 133 | 0.3 | New | |
| Majority | 3,247 | 7.1 | 38.0
| ||
| Turnout | 46,331 | 60.0 | 4.9
| ||
| Registered electors | 77,149 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | 22.3
|
|||
References
edit- ^ "Reform UK Departmental Team Responsibilities". Reform UK. March 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ "davidbull.com". Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
- ^ About me Archived 28 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine DavidBull.com
- ^ "David Richard BULL". gmc-uk.org. General Medicine Council. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
GMC reference no: 4025924
- ^ "BBC Online". Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ^ "BOOKS – David Bull". DavidBull.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ "Sugar Dome". Food Network. Scripps Interactive. Retrieved 13 September 2018.[dead link]
- ^ Allington, Daniel; Buarque, Beatriz L; Barker Flores, Daniel (27 December 2020). "Antisemitic conspiracy fantasy in the age of digital media: Three 'conspiracy theorists' and their YouTube audiences". Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics. 30 (1): 78–102. doi:10.1177/0963947020971997. ISSN 0963-9470. S2CID 231912623.
- ^ Butterworth, Benjamin (20 April 2022). "TalkTV's latest hire Daisy McAndrew to take on rival channel GB News a week after leaving". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ "Tory candidate chosen in primary". BBC News. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ a b Andy Chiles (30 June 2009). "Celebrity doctor denies fall-out with Tories". The Argus. Melbourne. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ Jonathan Isaby (26 June 2009). "ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog: David Bull steps down as candidate for Brighton Pavilion to head up policy review". Conservative Home. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ Westmonster (25 April 2019). "Brexit Party reveal another diverse group of MEP candidates". Westmonster. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
- ^ "Brexit Party wins three North West seats". BBC News. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ "Sedgefield parliamentary constituency". Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ Barnes, Peter (5 February 2020). "What happens after Brexit?". BBC News. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ Reform UK [@reformparty_uk] (11 March 2021). "We are delighted to announce @drdavidbull as the new Deputy Leader of Reform UK!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Reform UK [@reformparty_uk] (30 March 2021). "We can also announce that @drdavidbull – Deputy Leader of Reform UK – will be standing as the Reform UK candidate for the City & East constituency in the upcoming #LondonAssembly Elections!" (Tweet). Retrieved 1 April 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Results 2021". London Elects. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Incredibull has moved". Incredibull. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ "The Duke of Edinburgh's Award – The DofE in the UK". Duke of Edinburgh Award. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ "West Suffolk - General Election Results". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ "Results" (PDF). towerhamlets.gov.uk. 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
- ^ Results 2021 LondonElects
- ^ "Sedgefield parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "Candidate Information". North West Votes. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- ^ "West Suffolk - General Election Results". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
External links
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