Andrew Charalambous
| Andrew Charalambous | |
|---|---|
Andrew Charalambous - April 2015
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| UKIP Work and Pensions Spokesperson | |
|
Assumed office 2 December 2016 |
|
| Leader | Paul Nuttall |
| Preceded by | Jane Collins |
| UKIP Housing Spokesperson | |
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In office 24 July 2014 – 2 December 2016 |
|
| Leader | Nigel Farage |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | Ray Finch |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Andrew Lambrou Charalambous London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | UK Independence Party |
| Website | www.andrewcharalambous.com |
Andrew Lambrou Charalambous is a British businessman. He is currently the Work and Pensions Spokesman for the United Kingdom Independence Party.
His Greek Cypriot father served as a soldier for the British in World War II and later settled in the United Kingdom. He went to William Forster School in Tottenham.
In October 2014, The Times newspaper reported that Charalambous falsely claimed to hold a "PhD in the parallels between Plato’s Utopia and Spartan Society" on his Facebook page as well as claiming to be a "professor of environmental sciences" on his official website. It was also reported that shortly after the revelations, claims that Charalambous was a qualified Barrister-at-Law were removed from his official website. In response, Charalambous made a statement via his official website, refuting claims made in The Times' article and displaying his academic certificates. These included a different Doctorate in Business Administration certificate from the since discredited University of Northern Virginia.
Appointed Work and Pensions Spokesman for the United Kingdom Independence Party in 2016. Leader Paul Nuttall said “By promoting Andrew Charalambous to the role of Work and Pensions I am happy to bring forward someone with the keen intelligence and application that the role requires.
“His track record in his previous brief, Housing shows how he can not only get under the skin of the brief, but he can also take expert opinion in the field with him. Time and again his policies have been co-opted by other parties, we expect no less going forward".
As UKIP Work and Pensions Spokesman, he has called for action to end the north-south divide, and for government to extend its employment drive to parts of the UK which have never recovered the loss of their manufacturing base.
Charalambous made a career in business as a property developer and private landlord.The Daily Telegraph newspaper poked fun at him for falling out with his bank for allegedly taking homeless people off the streets of Covent Garden in London and putting them in his properties. It was also pointed out in the Sunday Mirror that housing in his property portfolio had been rented out to immigrant tenants, despite the fact that UKIP leader Nigel Farage was calling for greater controls on immigration. Following Freedom of Information requests in 2015, Charalambous was shown to be among the biggest landlord recipients of housing benefit, having received £826,395 in the last tax year.
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Wikipedia