Godfrey Bloom

Godfrey Bloom

Godfrey Bloom (born November 22, 1949 in London ) is a British politician and was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2014 . Bloom was a member of the UK Independence Party until 2013 and was a member of the EU-skeptical groups Ind / Dem (2004–2009) and Europe of Freedom and Democracy (2009–2013). From 2010 to 2012, he was chairman of the European party European Alliance for Freedom .

Professional career

Godfrey Bloom worked as a bond fund manager advisor until 1986 and later as a fund manager at Mercury Asset Management until 1992 . From 1992 to 2004 he worked in economic research, including as a member of the market-liberal think tank Institute of Economic Affairs .

Political career

After Bloom had been 1987-1999 alderman, he was in the 2004 European elections on the list of Euro-skeptic party UKIP in the European Parliament voted, where he a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and substitute member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender equality was established.

A little later, Bloom was noticed by controversial remarks to the media on the relationship between the sexes. For example, he said that no sane small business manager would hire a woman of childbearing age and that he represented in Parliament "Yorkshire women who always have food on the table when they come home". After widespread criticism in the media, he made it clear that his statements were meant "for fun" and were intended to indicate the fact that well-intentioned legislation aimed at strengthening women's rights in the workplace often has negative effects as it makes employers less interested in them employment of women. In late 2007 he suggested on a radio show that women should include a clause in employment contracts that they could be dismissed if they became pregnant; this could increase the employment rate of young women. After inviting several students from Cambridge University to Brussels, he was charged with sexual harassment. A student wrote a protest letter complaining about his behavior.

Other comments by Bloom also sparked controversy. In 2006, for example, he noted that most prostitutes were not exploited, but carried out their work “because they wanted to”, and also admitted that they had visited brothels in Hong Kong themselves. In 2009 he insulted the chairman of the Financial Services Authority , Lord Turner, during a speech in the Mansion House (London City Hall) in such a way that he will no longer be invited to events in the Mansion House in the future.

In 2008 he gave a speech in the European Parliament in which he was heavily drunk and denied the ability of MPs from Poland , the Czech Republic and Lithuania to grasp global economic relationships. After the speech he had to be carried out of parliament. In February 2012, he asked a disjointed question in the European Parliament about an English university rugby club. He later stated that at the time he was under the influence of alcohol and pain medication.

Bloom is of the opinion that global warming is not happening and justifies this with the early onset of the ski season since 2002.

In connection with the expenses scandal involving MEPs in the UK Parliament in mid-2009, Bloom complained on his website about the “lack of decency and common sense among today's politicians” and stated that, unlike most other MEPs, he did not employ his own family members at the expense of his secretarial allowance. At the end of May 2009, however, he admitted according to media reports that he was employing family members and employees of his former investment company TBO with the secretarial allowance.

In the European elections in the United Kingdom in 2009 , Bloom was re-elected as a UKIP candidate.

In November 2010 Bloom caused an uproar in the European Parliament because he interrupted the German SPD MEP Martin Schulz with the Nazi propaganda slogan “One people, one Reich, one leader” and described him as an “undemocratic fascist”. In the debate on the future of the Euro Stability Pact, Schulz had criticized the special role played by the United Kingdom, which was not part of the Eurozone but was still participating in the discussion, and said that some Eurosceptics would be happy about the collapse of the EU. The President of Parliament Jerzy Buzek expelled Bloom from the room after the incident. Against this, the Dutch MP Barry Madlener from the Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) protested , because Schulz himself had recently called PVV MP Daniël van der Stoep a fascist , but was not expelled from the room afterwards.

Bloom served on the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality .

After Bloom publicly hit journalist Michael Crick in September 2013 , he had to leave UKIP and the EFD Group. He remained in the European Parliament as a non-attached member until the end of the electoral term.

Web links

• Website (English)
• Entry on Godfrey Bloom in the Members' database of the European Parliament
• VoteWatch.eu: voting by Godfrey Bloom in the European Parliament (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Guardian , July 20, 2004: Ukip MEP: Pregnant women should resign ; BBC , July 21, 2004: UKIP MEP in row over working women .
2. ↑ BBC, November 12, 2007: Woman's Hour News  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (in English, quote after 10m: 10s).  
3. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-man-in-brussels-faces-harassment-claim-after-trying-to-quash-his-sexist-reputation-6159897.html
4. ↑ ^{a b} The Times , May 30, 2009: UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom pays assistants who also work for his investment firm  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (in English).  
5. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/6224159/Heckler-breaks-with-decorum-at-Mansion-House.html
6. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/citydiary/6257636/No-more-Bloom-and-bust-for-Mansion-House.html
7. ↑ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/5940683/A_drunk_Eurosceptic_makes_more_sense_than_a_sober_federalist/
8. ↑ http://politicalscrapbook.net/2012/02/ukip-mep-makes-euro-parliament-speech-on-booze-and-drugs-cocktail/
9. ↑ Climate change: man-made or myth? , BBC News , Oct. 1, 2009.
10. ^ "One people, one empire, one leader". November 23, 2010, accessed on January 17, 2012 (YouTube video of the event in the European Parliament). 
11. ^ Scandal in the European Parliament: British attacked SPD MPs with Nazi slogans , Spiegel Online, November 24, 2010
12. ↑ Europarlementariër uit debat gezet na nazi-uitspraak , elsevier.nl, 24 November 2010
13. ^ Website of the European Parliament
14. ↑ http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/09/godfrey-bloom-hits-michael-crick-uses-word-sluts