Mike Hookem

Michael Hookem (born 9 October 1953) is a British politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber from 2014 to 2019. He also served as Spokesperson for Fisheries and Veterans Affairs from 2016 to 2019, and as Spokesperson for Defence in 2019 and previously from 2014 to 2016.

Early life Hookem grew up in the fishing community in the east of Kingston upon Hull, and left school at 15. His father worked on the docks. Hookem enlisted in the Royal Air Force at the age of 17, and served for four years. He had served as UKIP's regional chairman for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire until that election. He was replaced as chairman by Judith Morris from July 2014.

On 6 October 2016, Hookem was involved in a fight with fellow UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe during a UKIP meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Hookem said he had not punched Woolfe, but did admit to a "scuffle" with him and that he acted in self-defence. Hookem said Woolfe "took exception" to his comment about Woolfe turning his leadership application paperwork late. He stood down as the party's assistant deputy leader on 22 January 2018 after Bolton refused to resign as leader following a vote of no confidence in him from UKIP's National Executive Committee the previous day.

Following the party's split from the EFDD Group led by UKIP's former leader, Nigel Farage, while UKIP leader Gerard Batten and Stuart Agnew joined the Europe of Nations and Freedom group.

On 24 May 2019, a day after voting concluded for the 2019 European elections, Hookem announced his resignation as deputy leader of UKIP. In a statement, he said: "I believe Ukip always has been and always should be a libertarian party that encourages and promotes common-sense policies with a broad electoral appeal. However, under Mr Batten's leadership, and despite my appeals, Ukip has been derailed from this objective. Mr Batten's policy direction and associations have given the mainstream media the ammunition to label our party 'extreme' and 'far-right', accusations I do not believe to be true." Hookem stated his intention to run in the then upcoming leadership election, after Batten announced his own resignation as party leader earlier that month. When the European election results were declared, it was revealed that UKIP had suffered a dramatic collapse in electoral support, largely due to the emergence of Farage's new Brexit Party who won the most seats. As a result, neither Hookem nor any of the other UKIP candidates were returned as MEPs. Richard Braine was announced as UKIP's new leader on 10 August 2019, after winning the leadership contest, with Hookem having come a distant fourth with 13% of all votes cast.

Subsequent activity After leaving UKIP, Hookem helped to found the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom (ADF) in 2020, later becoming the party’s Chairman.

Elections contested UK Parliament Date of election Constituency Party Votes % Result 2010 general election Kingston upon Hull East UKIP 2,745 8.0 Not elected 2015 general election Wentworth and Dearne UKIP 10,733 24.9 Not elected 2017 general election Great Grimsby UKIP 1,648 4.6 Not elected

European Parliament elections Year Region Party Votes % Result Notes 2014 Yorkshire and the Humber UKIP 403,630 31.1 Elected Multi member constituencies; party list 2019 Yorkshire and the Humber UKIP 56,100 4.4 Not elected Multi member constituencies; party list