Paul Wiffen

My Experience

Paul Wiffen M.A. Hons (OXON) entered politics because as a film director he was involved in the campaign to save the Kensington Odeon. The film he produced and showed to the Kensington & Chelsea Planning Committee was held to be so effective, it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival

Paul first stood for UKIP in the West Central super-constituency, which includes Kensington & Chelsea, at the London Assembly Elections in May 2008 as well as on the London Assembly list, having begun his UKIP career as Social Secretary for the West London branch as that was where he was working at the time.

Paul was elected UKIP Chairman of London Region in November 2008 & immediately joined the campaign to win Ghurkhas the right to settle in the UK (he attended Downing Street with Joanna Lumley in 2008 to hand in 1/4 million signatures to Gordon Brown six months before the Lib Dems entered the campaign).

Paul worked with Gerard Batten on the case of Andrew Symeou, deported to Greece and months later still imprisoned without trial under a European Arrest Warrant without evidence being allowed in a British court, on charges based on statements beaten out of witnesses long before Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty took an interest in his case.

Most recently, Paul recruited actress Jennifer Ellison, the star of his next film, as a celebrity barmaid in the Westminster Arms at a promotional event for the campaign to save British pubs.

Paul has become a familiar figure driving the UKIP London Taxi around Ilford and London generally (as seen on BBC London), as well as using it to corner David Cameron and Lord Mandelson in the Norwich North campaign (see Videos on the left).

Paul has worked closely with London MEP Gerard Batten and Regional Organiser Lawrence Webb, masterminding election strategy in the 2009 European Elections which saw the successful re-election of Gerard for a second term and is now busy with preparations for next year's General Election.

Paul himself stood as an MEP for UKIP in Scotland in the June 2009 European Elections as he did not want to compete with Gerard Batten for the seat he has represented so effectively since 2004, and UKIP Scotland was short of candidates.

Paul is standing in May 2010 as the UKIP candidate in Chadwell ward for Redbridge council & for Westminster in Ilford South, because that is where his family comes from.

Although Paul gained a Master's Degree in Modern Languages at Oxford, toured the world as a keyboardist with Stevie Wonder & Jean-Michel Jarre, and has shot films in Switzerland, Mexico & Belize (which won three awards), he still lives in the Chadwell Heath house which his grandfather bought in 1934 when he worked as a train guard on the Liverpool Street to Southend line. Unlike professional politicians who are parachuted in to stand in unfamiliar constituencies to fulfill some party strategy, Paul's roots are in Chadwell Heath and Ilford South, so that is where he wants to use his energies to make things better.

Paul is campaigning locally in Ilford to save the A&E Department at King George's Hospital and to keep the Mildmay Centre in Albert Road. He also wants greater public scrutiny of the National Express line from Liverpool Street to Romford on which his grandfather worked as it has deteriorated so much with (badly) planned engineering work at weekends and late night platform changes at Stratford. He also plans to bring anti-social behaviour on the 25 night bus to public attention with a film showing the assaults, drug use and drunkeness (which Boris' empty measures have completely failed to address!)