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12 Facts About Patrick O'Flynn

1.

Patrick James O'Flynn was born on 29 August 1965 and is an English journalist and Social Democratic Party politician who served as Member of the European Parliament for the East of England from 2014 to 2019.

2.

Patrick O'Flynn was elected for the UK Independence Party but defected to the Social Democratic Party in November 2018.

3.

Patrick O'Flynn subsequently received a diploma in journalism from City, University of London.

4.

Patrick O'Flynn then worked as chief political commentator and then political editor at the Daily Express.

5.

Patrick O'Flynn was the UK Independence Party spokesperson on the economy until 19 May 2015.

6.

Patrick O'Flynn was the UKIP candidate in Cambridge at the general election in 2015 and came fifth, with 5.2 per cent of the vote.

7.

Patrick O'Flynn was the running-mate for Lisa Duffy in the September 2016 UK Independence Party leadership election.

8.

Patrick O'Flynn left the UKIP frontbench in July 2017, believing that the party no longer supported his centrist economic policies.

9.

Patrick O'Flynn joined the Social Democratic Party in November 2018.

10.

Patrick O'Flynn cited UKIP leader Gerard Batten's appointment of Tommy Robinson as an adviser as a key reason for his departure from the party.

11.

Patrick O'Flynn stood as the SDP candidate in the 2019 Peterborough by-election, but received only 135 votes, and lost to Lisa Forbes.

12.

Patrick O'Flynn narrowly avoided a repeat of the 1990 Bootle by-election result by beating the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate, who polled 112.