Biography

Journalist, author, broadcaster and political campaigner with a special interest in British constitutional history.

After many years as a journalist, public affairs advisor and scriptwriter, in 1972 he started his own international marketing business, helping major industrial companies to increase their export business. At one time the company had offices in Houston and Atlanta, USA, Geneva and London. Some 20 years later, the Tory government’s foolhardy attempt to shadow the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in the late 1980s and early 1990s ultimately forced interest rates to 15 percent and destroyed Ashley Mote’s business, along with over 100,000 others.

Having had such bitter first-hand experience of the damage the ERM could do, he started researching the European Union. This led to his bookVigilance - A Defence of British Liberty. Vigilance is one of the fastest-selling books about the EU ever published. His second political book, OverCrowded Britain is about the UK’s immigration crisis, and was first published in 2003.

Two pamphlets followed, with copies circulating all over the world. J’Accuse…! was published in 2007, and We Want Our Country Back at the end of 2008.

In 2000, Ashley Mote drafted a Petition to Her Majesty under Article 61 of Magna Carta, which was later signed by 28 peers and taken to Buckingham Palace by the Duke of Rutland and others. The petition asked Her Majesty not to grant the Royal Assent to the Bill to ratify the EU’s Treaty of Nice - an appeal which reports suggest came close to success.

He joined the UK Independence Party just before the 2001 general election as the only political home for people wanting Britain to leave the EU altogether. At the 2004 European parliamentary elections he won the second seat for UKIP in the south-east of England. He left the party after he was threatened with a prosecution, the consequences of which are still on-going today.

From 2004 to 2009 he sat as an independent member of the European Parliament, free to fight for the early withdrawal of the UK from the European Union and the restoration of government of the British by the British for the British.

Once in Brussels, Ashley Mote described his experiences thus: “When you are on the field of battle, you use every weapon at your disposal. Turning my back on the EU would not defeat it. I found myself a fifth-columnist within the city walls. But unlike most fifth-columnists, my foes knew I was there - a quite extraordinary situation, like much else in the EU.

“Being a member gave me access to information, and to people. I now had the ability to take the concerns of ordinary people into boardrooms and ministerial offices as never before, and have them taken seriously.

“I also had access to funds which could be used to help fight for the restoration of British sovereignty. The EU does not create wealth. It takes it from taxpayers all over the member states. It is a financial leech on the body politic. The best possible use of British taxpayers’ money was to finance my research team in Brussels and elsewhere, digging into the detail of EU corruption, regulations, directives and future plans. We had access to information and officials, and the power to call the European Commission to account.

“I was one of the few people ever to seek elected political office with the sole intention of putting myself out of a job. I was a turkey voting for Christmas. Sadly, the battle has not yet been won, and others have now taken my place. But win we will.”

Married with two adult children and four grandchildren, Ashley Mote is the author of several other books, including The Glory Days of Cricket, which won the Cricket Society Literary Award in 1997.

He is a member of the Hambledon Club, the Victory Services Club and a Freeman of the City of London. His other interests include music, the theatre, good company and rugby.

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