James Carver

James Bruce Carver (born 15 August 1969) is a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands region for the UK Independence Party. He was elected in 2014, second on the list for the region, being elected together with Jill Seymour and Bill Etheridge.

Biography

James Carver was educated at Orpington College. He runs a family umbrella business.

Political career

Carver stood in four general elections for UKIP: Orpington in 1997 (5th, 526 votes), Cheltenham in 2001 (6th, 482 votes), Preseli Pembrokeshire in 2005 (5th, 498 votes), and Stourbridge in 2015 (3rd, 7,774 votes). He was also sixth on the party list for London in the 1999 European election.

Carver is of Romanichal descent on his grandmother's side, giving rise to his interest in fostering better relationships with traveller communities, and is believed to be the only British Parliamentarian from a Romany background. He has also helped raise both money and awareness for the Scleroderma Society following the death of his first wife from scleroderma in 2009, including his greatest personal achievement to date; running the 2012 London Marathon. He has a lifelong commitment to raise awareness of this relatively unknown connective tissue disease.