Name Rodney Atkinson Role Commentator | Nieces Lily Atkinson | |
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Siblings Rowan Atkinson, Rupert Atkinson, Paul Atkinson Parents Ella May Bainbridge, Eric Atkinson Books Treason at Maastricht, Fascist Europe Rising, The Failure of the State, Europe's full circle, The emancipated society Similar People Rowan Atkinson, Norris McWhirter, Lily Atkinson, Sunetra Sastry, Leslie Ash | ||
Rodney atkinson
Rodney Eric Bainbridge Atkinson (born 1948) is a British eurosceptic conservative academic, political and economic commentator, journalist and author. He is the eldest brother of comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson.
Contents
Brexit or Die
Career
Atkinson was formerly a lecturer at the University of Mainz, and has also worked as a merchant banker and government adviser.
He founded The Campaign for United Kingdom Conservatism in 1994 and co-founded with Lynn Riley, the cross-party South Molton Declaration in 1999 (re-launched as the British Declaration of Independence for the 2005 general election). He was Referendum Party candidate in North West Durham in the 1997 general election (5.2%) and the lead UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate for the North East Region in the 1999 European Elections (8.8%).
In 2000, he lost the UKIP leadership election, by 16 votes, to Jeffrey Titford MEP. Atkinson left UKIP shortly afterwards, along with 200 supporters, accusing then Party Chairman Nigel Farage MEP and eurosceptic journalist Christopher Booker of conducting a "dirty tricks" campaign against him. He also accused the party of being "infiltrated by extremists".
With Norris McWhirter, he laid misprision of treason charges against Francis Maude and Douglas Hurd for signing the Maastricht Treaty. The case was eventually quashed by the Attorney General, Nicholas Lyell, while the House of Lords was in recess, sitting in his own Judgement (as the government's lawyer) and saying there was no case to answer. Atkinson subsequently co-authored the book Treason at Maastricht, with Norris McWhirter.