Winston McKenzie
| Winston McKenzie | |
|---|---|
McKenzie in 2007
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
23 October 1953 Croydon, Greater London, England |
| Political party |
English Democrats (2015–present) UKIP (2009–2015) Unity Party (2009) Independent (2008–2009, 2005, 2003–2004) Conservative (2006–2008) Veritas (2005) Liberal Democrats (2002–2003) Labour (until 2001) |
| Relations |
Duke McKenzie (brother) Clinton McKenzie (brother) |
Winston Truman McKenzie (born 23 October 1953) is a British political activist and perennial candidate for public office. He is a member of the English Democrats. He has been a member of every major political party, and has stood as an independent or minor party candidate on numerous occasions without success.
A British Jamaican, McKenzie worked as a boxer before later running a pub with his brothers; it was closed down after police found many of its customers to possess weapons and drugs.
He was a member of the Labour Party from the 1980s until 2001. The following year he joined the Liberal Democrats, staying with them until 2003; he then remained politically independent for some time before becoming a member of Veritas. In 2006 he joined the Conservative Party, which he left to become a political independent again.
In 2009 he tried to establish his own Unity Party, but this failed owing to a lack of financial backing; McKenzie then joined the UK Independence Party. He stood for its leadership in 2010 and was the UKIP candidate in the 2012 Croydon North by-election, where he came third with 5.7% of the vote. He served as UKIP's Commonwealth spokesman from 2014 until 9 March 2015, and was the UKIP candidate for Croydon North in the 2015 general election.
After an acrimonious departure from UKIP, McKenzie joined the English Democrats. In 2016 he competed on reality television show Celebrity Big Brother and was the first contestant to be eliminated, receiving negative attention for his views on homosexuality.
An elder brother of boxer Duke McKenzie and a younger brother of boxer Clinton McKenzie, Winston McKenzie was a successful amateur middleweight boxer. He fought professionally as a super-welterweight. He contended that after an underprivileged childhood, "boxing was my salvation". However, at the age of 23 he was forced to quit boxing after he suffered two detached retinas.
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