Ben Habib

Benyamin Naeem Habib (born 7 June 1965) is a British politician and businessman. He was elected as a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 2019 European parliamentary election. He remained in the role until the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU. Habib is the chief executive of First Property Group plc, a commercial property investment and fund management company.

Ben Habib
Member of the European Parliament
for London
In office
2 July 2019[1] – 31 January 2020
Preceded byGerard Batten
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1965-06-07) 7 June 1965
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
NationalityBritish
Political partyBrexit (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations		Conservative (before 2019)
EducationRugby School
Alma materRobinson College, Cambridge
ProfessionPolitician, businessman

Early life, education and career

Benyamin Naeem Habib was born on 7 June 1965 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.[2][3] His father is Pakistani.[4] He moved to the United Kingdom (UK) in 1979 and his early education was at the independent Rugby School.[5][6] Habib is a former president of its alumni association, the Rugbeian Society.[7][8] He then attended Robinson College, Cambridge where he studied Natural Sciences.[9] After graduating, Habib became an analyst in the corporate finance department at former financial services firm Lehman Brothers.[10] After this, he was appointed finance director at insurance broker PWS Holdings.[11]

In 1994, Habib entered the properties business as the managing director of private property development company, JKL Property, before starting his own property fund company First Property Group plc six years later.[11] The company, for which he is the chief executive, operates in the UK, Poland, and Romania.[12][13]

Political career

Habib had been supporter of the Conservative Party and euroscepticism. He supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum. He argued the UK's trade opportunities would be better outside of the European Union (EU), that being part of the EU meant that the UK had ceded sovereignty, and that there needed to be greater control of immigration.[10][14]

He objected to so-called "project fear"[11] and said business should welcome a reduction in the value of pound sterling and real estate. He also said "market volatility", such as that linked to Brexit, often allows investors to profit.[15] This drew criticism on some news websites.[16] He has made the same arguments regarding volatility and buying opportunities arising from the coronavirus pandemic.[17]

In the 2019 European parliamentary election, Habib stood as a candidate for the Brexit Party in the London constituency. He was previously a Conservative Party voter and donor.[5][18] He was first on his party's list, and was elected as one of its two MEPs in the constituency.[19][20] He was a member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and part of the delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia.[2] According to Transparency International, Habib was the richest MEP elected in the Ninth European Parliament based on annual earnings from his second job. He declared €960,000 annual earnings from his company, First Property Group.[21]

References
  1. "After the European Parliament elections – what happens next?". European Parliament. 13 June 2019. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  2. "Ben Habib". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  3. "Benyamin Naeem Habib". Sutton Council. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  4. Payne, Adam (6 May 2019). "The Brexit Party promises Theresa May's Conservatives 'a really good kicking' in the European elections". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  5. Lea, Robert (17 June 2019). "Off to Brussels with a Brexit message". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.(subscription required)
  6. "First Property placement". Rugby School. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  7. "Floreat 2014" (PDF). Rugby School. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  8. "Alumni Community". Rugby School. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  9. "Annual Appeal". Robinson College, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  10. Brooks, Charlie (16 June 2016). "'Immigration is like a Ponzi scheme' Charlie Brooks meets Telegraph reader Ben Habib ahead of next week's European Union referendum". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  11. "Profile". Information Management Network. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  12. "First Property raises funds to gain from post-Brexit property weakness". Reuters. 17 July 2017. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  13. "Ben Habib". First Property Group. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  14. "EU is making a free trade deal difficult, Brexit Party candidate says". CNBC. 22 May 2019. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  15. "First Property chief sees "great opportunity" if BREXIT occurs".
  16. Evans, Greg (17 July 2019). "Brexit Party MEP mansplains the economy to Emily Maitlis after being accused of profiting from a no-deal". The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  17. "Fprop PLC Prelim Results 2020: First Property Group (June 24, 2020)". YouTube.
  18. Mason, Rowena (18 April 2019). "Nigel Farage has near-total control of Brexit party, constitution suggests". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  19. "2019 European elections: List of candidates for London". BBC News. 28 April 2019. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  20. "European elections 2019: Lib Dems make London MEP gains". BBC News. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  21. Rankin, Jennifer (26 September 2019). "Brexit party MEPs are EU's biggest earners in second jobs, study finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.