1. Jonathan William Arnott was born on 12 January 1981 and is a British politician and former schoolteacher.
25 Facts About Jonathan Arnott
1. 2.
Jonathan Arnott is known for his belief that those in politics should keep doing a real-world job, and therefore he continued to teach on a part-time basis until his election as an MEP.
3.
At the 2008 UKIP conference, Jonathan Arnott was unveiled as the new party General Secretary.
4.
In July 2016, Jonathan Arnott launched his bid to become leader of UKIP following the resignation of Nigel Farage.
5.
Jonathan Arnott gained the support of Yorkshire and the Humber MEP's Jane Collins and Mike Hookem.
6.
Jonathan Arnott said he wanted to appeal to the millions of voters who did not support UKIP in the previous year's general election but backed Brexit in the EU referendum.
7.
Jonathan Arnott said that UKIP would be on the verge of dying if this attempt was not thwarted and said that he "could not under any circumstances support Anne Marie Waters".
8.
Jonathan Arnott was then selected to contest the Sheffield South East constituency for the 2010 general election.
9.
Jonathan Arnott spoke four times, calling for a reduction in police bureaucracy, abolition of jail sentence remission and rehabilitation of offenders.
10.
Jonathan Arnott criticised the party's candidate selection process which allowed people with what he called "abhorrent" views to represent the party.
11.
Jonathan Arnott was one of the most vocal internal critics of the infamous UKIP "breaking point" poster that was unveiled in the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum.
12.
Jonathan Arnott said it was "heartbreaking" that on the campaign trail he had to plead with people who perceived the poster as racist not to abandon their intention to vote Leave.
13.
Jonathan Arnott believed this poster lost a lot of votes for the Leave campaign.
14.
On 25 May 2014, it was announced that Jonathan Arnott had been elected as UKIP's first ever MEP for North East England.
15.
Jonathan Arnott used his acceptance speech on election night to highlight what he described as an election campaign that had been "marred by a campaign of hate, waged against UKIP by those who fear a realignment of British politics".
16.
On 1 March 2018 Jonathan Arnott was one of three UK MEPs who voted against a motion to encourage national parliaments to ban "gay conversion therapies".
17.
In June 2017 Jonathan Arnott published a document called 'Britain Beyond Brexit' which sets out an alternative policy platform and vision for the future of UKIP.
18.
Jonathan Arnott stated that he had watched recent events with "disappointment, bordering on despair" and warned that the party was heading in a "bland and anti-Muslim" direction.
19.
Jonathan Arnott said that "hardline anti-Islam nonsense" and the "crass" integration agenda made it very difficult for people to vote UKIP.
20.
On 19 January 2018, Jonathan Arnott announced his resignation from UKIP.
21.
Jonathan Arnott added that UKIP had "shifted" its stance on religious and cultural issues to a degree he could not support.
22.
Jonathan Arnott is a chess enthusiast who is a Candidate Master, former member of the England Under-21 squad and captained the Yorkshire county side from 2002 to 2004.
23.
Jonathan Arnott regularly competes in the 4NCL international chess league and the Gibraltar International chess festival.
24.
Jonathan Arnott represented White Rose in the European Club Cup in 2010 and 2011, with the team finishing as the top British side by 20 places in 2011.
25.
Jonathan Arnott has represented Great Britain at the board game Stratego, helping the British team to the bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships.