Patrick O'Flynn


Patrick James O'Flynn is an English journalist and politician who served as Member of the European Parliament for the East of England region from 2014 to 2019. He was elected for the UK Independence Party but defected to the Social Democratic Party in November 2018.

Early life and journalism

He read Economics at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1987. He subsequently earned a Diploma in Journalism from City, University of London. He previously worked as Chief Political Commentator and then Political Editor of the Daily Express.

Political career

He was the UK Independence Party Economic Spokesman until 19 May 2015.
He was the UKIP candidate in Cambridge at the 2015 general election. He came fifth, with 5.2% of the vote. After the disappointing election result he described UKIP leader Nigel Farage as "snarling, thin-skinned and aggressive".
He was the running-mate for Lisa Duffy in the September 2016 UK Independence Party leadership election.
He left the UKIP frontbench in July 2017 believing the party no longer supported his centrist economic policies.
O'Flynn joined the SDP in November 2018. He cited UKIP leader Gerard Batten's appointment of the far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson as an adviser as a key reason for his departure from the party. He said of his decision to join the SDP: "like many on the communitarian wing of , I have decided to join the resurgent SDP, which campaigned for Brexit during the referendum and espouses broad and moderate pro-nation state political values that I – and I believe many of our voters from 2014 – will be delighted to endorse." In defecting, O'Flynn became the first MEP to sit in the European Parliament for the SDP.
O'Flynn stood as the SDP candidate in the 2019 Peterborough by-election, but received only 135 votes and lost to Lisa Forbes. O'Flynn narrowly avoided a repeat of the May 1990 Bootle by-election by beating the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate who polled 112.