Nationality Welsh | Political party UK Independence Party | |
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Alma mater Middlesex PolytechnicCardiff Institute of Higher Education Education Cardiff Metropolitan University, Middlesex University | ||
Gareth John Bennett (born 1 December 1968) is a Welsh politician who has been a UK Independence Party Member of the National Assembly for Wales for South Wales Central since the National Assembly for Wales election, 2016.
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Biography
Bennett was born in Cardiff on 1 December 1968. His mother was a Cardiff supply teacher and his father worked at the GKN steelworks as a a quality control inspector. He was educated at Llandaff City Primary School and Radyr Comprehensive School. He swam competitively for City of Cardiff Swimming Club, and was later a member of Cardiff Amateur Athletics Club. He represented South Glamorgan in both sports. He studied at sociology Middlesex Polytechnic but left halfway through the course, returning to Cardiff to pursue journalism at the Cardiff Institute of Higher Education, which lead to a post with the Carmarthen Journal, West Wales (1992 -1996). Over the next 15 years, Bennett then undertook a wide array of jobs including administrator, call centre operative, English teacher (in China and South-East Asia), property developer, painter and decorator, pub barman and general building labourer.
Writing
(1989 - 1982) Bennett began his writing activities by co-founding and editing the Cardiff City Football Club fanzine "O Bluebird of Happiness". He has 4 books published by The History Press co-written with David Collins: Never Mind the Bluebirds (The Ultimate Cardiff City Quiz Book), Never Mind the Bluebirds 2 (Another Ultimate Cardiff City Quiz Book!), The Secret Premier League Diary of a Cardiff City Fan and The Little Book of Cardiff (a local history book) between 2012-15.
Offices Held
National Assembly for Wales Member for South Wales Central He is a member of the Equalities, Local Government and Communities Committee and the Petitions Committee.
The party he represents is UKIP and he is responsible for the South Wales Central Region. He began his term of office on the 6th May 2016.
UKIP
Politically, Bennett began on the left, joining the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) at the age of 16. He left after six months. He was later active in the Labour Party (1992-96), before eventually abandoning the left – and even the centre-left – due to their policies on perceived mass immigration.
This led to Bennett joining UKIP in 2014. He campaigned in the 2014 European election, and was then agent for UKIP candidate Brian Morris in Cardiff West at the 2015 general election. He became secretary, and then chairman, of the Cardiff UKIP branch, and then joined the UKIP Wales regional committee.
In March 2016, it was reported that Bennett had topped the poll in the South Wales Central region in a ballot of all UKIP party members in Wales to select Welsh Assembly candidates. He was almost immediately caught up in a media storm over controversial remarks regarding rubbish problems in Cardiff’s City Road area, which Bennett blamed on students and – controversially – Eastern European immigrants and was nicknamed the Donald Trump of Wales by the media..
This led to senior UKIP party leaders, like Nigel Farage and Immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe, publicly distancing themselves from Bennett. A petition containing the names of 16 other UKIP Assembly candidates opposing Bennett’s candidacy was presented to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – which promptly re-selected him as lead candidate. He was duly elected to the Assembly on 5 May 2016.
This furore also involved the resignation from the list of the number two UKIP candidate in South Wales Central. This was Alexandra Phillips, former personal aide to Nigel Farage, whom Bennett alleged was plotting to get rid of him in her role as Assembly campaign media officer.
In the Assembly UKIP group, he backed Neil Hamilton for leader over Nathan Gill, whom he held responsible for the deselection campaign against him. After Hamilton became leader of the group, Bennett was appointed as UKIP Assembly spokesman for Local Government, Housing and Sport.
He is a member of the Equalities, Local Government and Communities Committee and the Petitions Committee.
Bennett was selected to lead UKIP's regional party list in South Wales Central in March 2016. This was a surprise to many within the party who were unhappy about it. He was interviewed by the press including ITV news.