John Whittaker

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Dr John Whittaker (born June 7, 1945 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a Member of the European Parliament for the North West England region, for the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Whittaker's PhD was in nuclear physics, but he later moved into economic theory and when he joined the academic world it was as an economist. He is a senior lecturer in economics at Lancaster University. His main research and teaching interests are in monetary policy and macroeconomics [1], and recently he has taken a particular interest in the problems associated with the single currency.

Whittaker was the UKIP's lead candidate in the North West for the European Parliament elections in 1999. Though UKIP gained 6.5% of the vote in the region, he fell short of being elected by about 0.5 percent. However, in 2004 he was more successful, being one of 12 UKIP candidates to win a European seat in the big UKIP breakthrough of that year.

He contested the 2005 general election for the constituencies of Ashton under Lyne, Crosby, Heywood and Middleton, Hyndburn, Manchester Central, Rochdale, Stalybridge and Hyde and Wigan.

In 2005 Whittaker became UKIP's official spokesman on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In September 2006, following the election of Nigel Farage as leader of UKIP, Whittaker was appointed party chairman.