Robin Tilbrook

Robin Charles William Tilbrook (born 8 April 1958) is an English politician and solicitor who has been chairman of the English Democrats since its foundation in 2002 and chairman of the Workers of England Union.

Early life Tilbrook was born in Kuala Lumpur, Federation of Malaya, in 1958. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, gained a BA (Hons) in politics and economics from the University of Kent at Canterbury, and then studied at The College of Law, Chester.

He was a Coldstream Guardsman and has worked in a factory, in junior management, and as a teacher at primary and secondary level. By 2003, he was a solicitor and a partner in the firm of Tilbrooks in Ongar, Essex.

On 27 September 2011, he became a Freeman of the City of London.

Political career Tilbrook was a member of the Conservative Student Association and a member of the Conservative Party, at one time a Conservative candidate for Ongar Town council.

He co-founded the English National Party in 1997, He is also the leader and nominating officer. He has stood as a candidate for the English Democrats in local, parliamentary 18.2% in the 2007 Epping Forest District Council election, and 11.3% in the 2009 County Council election. He gained 2.01% of the vote as the lead candidate for the East of England region in the 2009 European election.

By 2006, the English Democrats, based in Norwich and chaired by Tilbrook, had adopted the policies of campaigning for a devolved English parliament, opposing membership of the European Union, opposing further immigration, and wishing to make St George's Day a national holiday.

Tilbrook said of the English Democrats in 2006 that the party "agitates for anyone living in England" and that Englishness was "akin to American notions of "Americanness": that you can be from any ethnic background and still wrap yourself in the flag." In 2009, he said, "We're hoping to do what the Scottish National Party managed to do in the 1970s and break through to being able to influence what happens in Parliament about England". He argues that the money given by the UK to the EU is given to other parts of the country at the expense of England, which makes his party Eurosceptic.

Tilbrook has reportedly had associations with the British far-right. In 2013, he confirmed that a tenth of the English Democrats membership was former BNP members and stood by comments at the party's 10th annual conference in 2011 that BNP supporters will "help us become an electorally credible party". In a 2015 interview with the BBC, Tilbrook confirmed that he had had meetings with groups on the far-right and far-left. This meeting was reportedly organised by the then leader of Britain First, Jim Dowson, and attended by members of the English Defence League. In 2023, it was reported that activists from Patriotic Alternative, a neo-Nazi party, had canvassed for him in the Epping Forest District Council elections.

Tilbrook has adopted a pro-Brexit stance, claiming that the United Kingdom had left the European Union on 29 March 2019. He reasoned that Theresa May had the authority to begin Britain's two-year withdrawal process from the European Union, but did not have the power to amend it, meaning that the extension granted by Brussels until 31 October 2019 was unlawful. The case, however, was rejected for a hearing on the grounds of lack of legal merit and cannot lead to a conclusion that the UK left the EU on 29 March 2019, but has been appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Elections contested UK Parliament elections Date of election Constituency Party Votes % Result 2005 Epping Forest 631 1.4 Not elected (6th) 2010 Brentwood and Ongar 491 1.0 Not elected (7th) 2015 Brentwood and Ongar 173 0.3 Not elected (6th) 2017 Clacton 289 0.7 Not elected (7th) 2019 Brentwood and Ongar 532 1.0 Not elected (5th) 2024 Brentwood and Ongar 189 0.4 Not elected (6th)

European Parliament elections Date of election Constituency List Votes % Result 2004 London 1st 15,945 0.9 Not elected 2009 East of England 1st 32,211 2.0 Not elected 2014 East of England 1st 16,497 1.1 Not elected 2019 East of England 1st 10,217 0.6 Not elected

Welsh Assembly elections Date of election Constituency List Votes % Result 2011 South Wales East 3rd 1,904 1.1 Not elected

Police and Crime Commissioner Date of election Police force Party Votes % Result 2012 Essex 11,550 6.9 Not elected (6th) 2021 Essex 42,831 9.8 Not elected (4th) 2024 Essex 44,909 13.2 Not elected (4th)

Essex County Council elections Date of election Division Party Votes % Result 2004 by-election Little Parndon and Town Centre 21 0.8 Not elected (6th) 2005 Epping and Theydon Bois 368 4.4 Not elected (4th) 2009 Ongar & Rural 505 11.3 Not elected (3rd) 2013 Ongar & Rural 93 3.2 Not elected (6th) 2017 Ongar & Rural 58 1.7 Not elected (5th) 2021 Ongar & Rural 186 4.8 Not elected (5th) 2026 Ongar & Rural 89 1.3 Not elected (5th)

Epping Forest District Council elections Date of election Ward Party Votes % Result 2004 Moreton and Fyfield 116 14.1 Not elected (3rd) 2006 Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash 250 16.6 Not elected (3rd) 2007 Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash 233 18.2 Not elected (3rd) 2008 High Ongar, Willingale and The Rodings 61 10.0 Not elected (2nd) 2010 Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash 220 8.0 Not elected (5th) 2011 Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash 148 9.5 Not elected (4th) 2012 High Ongar, Willingale and the Rodings 63 12.8 Not elected (2nd) 2014 Chipping Ongar, Greensted & Marden Ash 36 2.5 Not elected (5th) 2016 High Ongar, Willingale and the Rodings 34 7.5 Not elected (3rd) 2019 Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash 166 17.2 Not elected (3rd) 2021 High Ongar, Willingale and the Rodings 43 6.5 Not elected (4th) 2022 Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash 72 7.5 Not elected (4th) 2023 Shelley 34 10.3 Not elected (3rd) 2024 Rural East 227 9.2 Not elected (5th) 2026 Rural East 78 2.5 Not elected (4th)

Personal life Tilbrook is the elder son of the late Brigadier Thomas William Tilbrook, Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, by his marriage to Jacqueline Mackillican. In 1988, Tilbrook became engaged to Claire Breed. They married and had three children. He is a member of the Church of England.