Matthew Patten (politician)

Matthew Richard Patten[1] (born 21 May 1962) is a former British politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands between 2019 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020. [2] He had previously been a Conservative[3] councillor for Bradfield, Wix and Wrabness in Tendring District, Essex.[4]

Matthew Patten
Member of the European Parliament
for East Midlands
In office
2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020
Preceded byEmma McClarkin
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1962-05-21) 21 May 1962 (age 62)
Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England
Other political
affiliations
Brexit (2019–2021)
Conservative (until 2019)

Patten was once the Chief Executive of the cricket and disability sports charity The Lord's Taverners.[5] He was the Chief Executive for the social mobility charity Mayor's Fund for London from 2012 until 2018,[6] and spoke at the November 2017 ACEVO conference on the third sector.[7] In 2015, he called for a watchdog similar to Ofsted to "improve performance, prevent abuse and give confidence to funders and other stakeholders" within British charities.[8]

In the European Parliament he was appointed a member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, the Delegation for Relations with Iran and the Delegation to the EU-North Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee.

He was the Brexit Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Clacton-on-Sea for the 2019 general election,[9] but withdrew when Nigel Farage announced the party would not contest Tory-held seats.[10]

He is currently the Political & Communications Director of the think tank, Centre for Social Justice.

References

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  1. ^ Chaplain, Chloe (23 May 2019). "Here are all the Brexit Party candidates standing in the EU elections". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ^ "The UK's European elections 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  3. ^ Owen, Claire (19 February 2008). "Frinton: Portfolio holder quizzed over toilets". Clacton and Frinton Gazette. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  4. ^ Dwan, James (23 April 2019). "Former Tendring councillor and charity boss unveiled as Brexit Party candidate". Clacton and Frinton Gazette. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  5. ^ Brading, Wendy (27 May 2019). "Ex-councillor wins Brexit Party seat in European elections". Daily Gazette (Colchester). Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  6. ^ Sharma, Ruchira (23 April 2019). "Brexit Party candidates: Nigel Farage's latest batch of potential MEPs". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  7. ^ Patten, Matthew (17 November 2016). "Love or hate it, Brexit offers civil society the chance to tackle social injustice". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  8. ^ Patten, Matthew (3 September 2015). "The charity sector is crying out for a Big Bang". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  9. ^ Party, The Brexit (5 August 2019). "CANDIDATE ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations, Matthew Patten! Our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Mid #Folkestone and #Hythe.pic.twitter.com/Haa2blRJ71". @brexitparty_uk. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  10. ^ Proctor, Kate; Wearden, Graeme (11 November 2019). "Brexit party will not contest 317 Tory-won seats, Farage says". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2019.