Lance Forman

Lance Philip Anisfeld (born 13 October 1962), known professionally as Lance Philip Forman,[3] is a British politician and businessman, who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London between 2 July 2019 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU.[4]

Lance Forman
Forman in 2010
Member of the European Parliament
for London
In office
2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020
Preceded bySyed Kamall
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1962-10-13) 13 October 1962
Islington, London, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative (since 2020)[1]
Other political
affiliations		Independent (2019–2020)
Brexit (2019)
Conservative (before 2019)
Spouse(s)Rene Anisfeld
Children3
EducationHaberdashers' Aske's Boys' School (1969-80)[2]
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge

Previously affiliated with the Conservative Party, Forman was elected to the European Parliament as a Brexit Party MEP, however he resigned the party whip in December 2019 in order to support the Conservative Party's Brexit strategy. He later joined the Conservative Party and for part of January 2020 was a member of the ECR group.[1][5]

Early life

Forman was born in Islington[6] and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1985, as Lance Anisfeld, he was President of The Cambridge Union.[7]

Career

Forman worked at Price Waterhouse Coopers as an accountant before being employed as a Special Adviser on trade related matters, 1991–92,[8] to Peter Lilley, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.[7]

He was subsequently a partner of EastS, a small property advisory firm specialising in Eastern Europe.[7] The Observer reported that Forman specialised in the privatisation of enterprises in former eastern European Soviet states and held real estate in Ukraine. Forman told The Observer that he acted "as a consultant" in this regard.[9]

H. Forman & Son

Forman manages H. Forman & Son, a smoked salmon business in Fish Island, London.[10] He is the fourth-generation owner of the company.[11] The business faced threats of a local boycott in the wake of Lance Forman's election as a London MEP for the Brexit Party, a group which won only 6% of votes locally in the May 2019 European Parliament elections.[12] Police investigations were opened in the run-up to the elections after a 10-metre swastika was spray-painted on the side of the business in a suspected anti-semitic attack.[13][14] Forman has claimed that he does not believe his business was targeted due to his Jewish heritage but rather because he supports Brexit.[15]

Forman successfully applied for the EU’s prized protected geographical indication (PGI) status for H. Forman & Son's "London cure" smoked salmon.[16][17] The designation provides protected name status to products under EU law, allowing the London cure to be labelled and protected with an EU trade mark. [18] While acknowledging "The irony" of gaining EU protection due to his eurosceptic views,[16] Forman said he was "very proud", while the Prime Minister, Theresa May, called the designation "fantastic".[19] In an August 2018 interview for Salmon Business, Forman dismissed the idea that the EU has advanced his business, stating, “I can honestly say that having been in the EU hasn’t created any serious commercial advantages for our business".[20]

MEP

Forman was elected as a Brexit Party MEP for the London constituency in May 2019. He resigned the party whip in December 2019 to support the Conservative Party's Brexit strategy.[21]

Forman is considered to be the most prolific Twitter user of all MEPs, having the highest total number of tweets.[22] A number of Forman's tweets have gone viral and been considered controversial, such as claims that Jeremy Corbyn is a Nazi, that Islamophobia in the Conservative party is "made up by the left",[23] that the "British taxpayer has paid for a nice fleet" of Mercedes for MEPs in Brussels (while posting a picture of what was actually a Skoda)[24][25] as well as sharing a video of himself apparently unable to operate the voting machines at the EU parliament, which he claimed was evidence that there was "no democracy here".[26][27]

Forman is in favour of "reducing the size of the state" and removing "red tape" which he considers harmful to businesses.[28] He has claimed that EU packaging and hygiene regulations have cost his business hundreds of thousands of pounds annually, which is the principal reason he is in favour of Brexit.[15]

Forman is a climate change denier.[29][30][31]

Family

Forman's son Oliver (Ollie) Anisfeld is the CEO of Turning Point UK, the British branch of Turning Point USA, a controversial, right-wing, pro-Trump organisation.[32][33][34][35] The organisation was subject to controversy at its launch, after conservative commentator, Candace Owens, was criticised for her remarks stating, the “problem” with Hitler was that “he had dreams outside of Germany.”[36][37][38] In November 2019, Lance Forman was publicly criticised by the mayors of Tower Hamlets and Hackney for hosting a public meeting of Turning Point UK, in which Forman was also a panel member. Forman defended the decision saying he was in favour of free speech.[39]

Together with his wife, Rene Anisfeld, Forman is a patron of the charitable organisation One Family UK,[40] which aids victims of terror attacks in Israel.[41]

Publications
  • Forman's Games: The Dark Underside of the London Olympics (Biteback Publishing, 12 July 2016) ISBN 9781785901249

References
  1. Longworth, John (8 January 2020). "My fellow former Brexit Party MEPs and I are joining the Tories to help Boris deliver". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  2. , 'Ben Alalouff, "Lance Anisfeld HABS and Beyond", Skylark [The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School Magazine], 2011, p.169. Retrieved January 11, 2020
  3. "European election 2019 – London-wide results". www.lewisham.gov.uk. Lewisham Council. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. "The UK's European elections 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  5. "9th parliamentary term | Lance FORMAN | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu.
  6. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  7. "Hands-on experience for adviser", Financial Times, May 18, 1992, p.12. https://archive.org/stream/FinancialTimes1992UKEnglish/May%2018%201992%2C%20Financial%20Times%2C%20%2360321%2C%20UK%20%28en%29#page/n11/mode/2up Retrieved January 11, 2020
  8. "UK parliament Hansard - written answers to questions - volume 271". UK Parliament. 21 July 1994. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  9. "Caviar trader mounts his own Olympic bid" by Nick Mathiason, The Guardian, June 26, 2005. Retrieved June 20, 2019
  10. Forman, Lance (17 May 2019). "A very Jewish Brexit". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  11. Chaplain, Chloe (8 May 2019). "Huge swastika painted on the business belonging to Jewish candidate for the Brexit Party". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  12. "European Elections: Hackney Wick salmon tycoon wins London seat for Brexit Party", Hackney Citizen, 28 May 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019
  13. "Swastika painted on building of Jewish Brexit party candidate", The Guardian, 8 May 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019
  14. "30ft swastika painted on business belonging to Jewish Brexit party candidate, as police announce investigation", The Telegraph, 8 May 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019
  15. Liphshiz, Cnaan. "A Jewish Brexit Party politician owns London's oldest smoked salmon factory". Times of Israel. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  16. Sullivan, Conor (13 July 2017). "Smoked salmon Brexiter sees nothing fishy in gaining EU protection". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  17. "EU set to grant special status to salmon from East End smokery". the Guardian. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  18. "EU set to grant special status to salmon from East End smokery". the Guardian. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  19. Yorke, Harry (13 July 2017). "London's oldest smoked salmon curer receives EU protected status as owner reveals business faced ruin over 2012 Olympics". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  20. Evans, Owen (27 August 2018). "London salmon smokehouse, H. Forman & Son, owner: "I see Brexit as a great opportunity for Britain"". SalmonBusiness. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  21. "Three MEPs quit Brexit Party to back PM's EU deal". BBC News. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  22. Simon, Fréderic; Archambault, Hannah (28 June 2019). "Revealed: The Twitter mug-shot of newly-elected MEPs". Euractiv.com. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  23. Bloom, Dan (26 April 2019). "Brexit Party candidate claimed Tory Islamophobia was 'made up by the left'". Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  24. "A Brexit Party MEP made a claim about his EU transport and everybody made the same joke". thepoke.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  25. Zatat, Narjas (12 June 2019). "Brexit Party MEP mocked after falsely bragging about taxpayers paying for 'fleet of Mercs'". Indy 100 from Independent. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  26. Peat, Jack (12 June 2019). "Video of Brexit Party MEP figuring out voting machine goes viral". The London Economic. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  27. Jankowicz, Mia (11 June 2019). "Brexit Party MEP mocked for appearing to claim that EU parliament voting machines are rigged". The New European. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  28. "Brexit Party candidate Lance Forman speaks with Parliamentary Review". The Parliamentary Review. 16 May 2019.
  29. "Forman & Son managing director Lance Forman doesn't blame disaster on climate change" by Lance Forman, Newham Recorder, December 16, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2019
  30. elect, Lance Forman MEP (25 January 2018). "I was being sarcastic. Climate change is a myth. Political Climate change is the real danger. PC will kill us all off before suntans".
  31. Collett-White, Richard; Farand, Chloe; Hope, Mat (1 May 2019). "Meet The Brexit Party's Climate Science Deniers". DeSmog UK. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  32. "Turning Point UK: Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tory MPs support new branch of ‘sinister’ right-wing US group", The Independent, February 4, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019
  33. "The battle over Britain's newest student movement", BBC, February 9, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019
  34. "Days After Its Disastrous British Launch, Turning Point Has Already Lost One Of Its Star Recruits", BuzzFeed, February 8, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019
  35. "The free-market youth movement that behaves like Apple", The Spectator, March 11, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019
  36. "Prominent Trump supporter Candace Owens condemned over Hitler comments". The Independent. 9 February 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  37. Frazin, Rachel (8 February 2019). "Candace Owens: 'If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well — OK, fine'". TheHill. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  38. Stefano, Alex Spence, Mark Di. "Days After Its Disastrous British Launch, Turning Point Has Already Lost One Of Its Star Recruits". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  39. Sheridan, Ed (5 November 2019). "East London Mayors join to condemn local meetings of Turning Point UK". Hackney Citizen. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  40. Charity Commission. One Family UK, registered charity no. 1123328.
  41. "ONE FAMILY UK – One Family UK".
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