Ben Habib
Ben Habib | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Chairman of the Great British PAC | |
| Assumed office 4 September 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Leader of Advance UK | |
| In office 30 June 2025 – 10 July 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Co-Deputy Leader of Reform UK | |
| In office 7 October 2023 – 11 July 2024 | |
| Leader | Richard Tice Nigel Farage |
| Preceded by | David Bull |
| Succeeded by | Richard Tice |
| Member of the European Parliament for London | |
| In office 2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Gerard Batten |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Benyamin Naeem Habib 7 June 1965 |
| Party | Independent (since 2026) |
Other political affiliations | Conservative (until 2019) Reform UK (2019–2024) Independent (2024–2025) Great British PAC (since 2024) Advance UK (2025–2026) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Robinson College, Cambridge (BA) |
| Signature |  |
Benyamin Naeem Habib (born 7 June 1965) is a Pakistan-born British politician and businessman who was the co-deputy leader of Reform UK from 2023 to 2024. He is the chief executive officer of First Property Group, a property investment company, and the chairman of Great British PAC, a political advocacy group.
Born in Karachi, West Pakistan, Habib graduated in natural sciences from University of Cambridge. He previously served as a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London from July 2019 until the UK left the European Union in January 2020. Prior to this, he had donated to the Conservative Party. Habib was co-deputy leader of Reform UK from October 2023 to July 2024, when he was replaced by Richard Tice following the 2024 general election. He then served as leader of Advance UK from June 2025 until it was dissolved and merged into the Great British PAC in June 2026.
Early life
[edit]Benyamin Naeem Habib was born in Karachi, West Pakistan on 7 June 1965 to a Pakistani father and an English mother.[1][2] His maternal grandfather fought at the Battle of the Somme; his paternal grandfather was born on a farm in Punjab.[3]
He moved to England with his parents in 1979 and attended Rugby School, a boarding school in Warwickshire.[4][5] He later became head boy and president of the Rugbeian Society.[6]
He studied natural sciences at Robinson College, Cambridge, from 1984[7] where he was awarded a Boxing Blue.[8]
Business career
[edit]After graduating at university, Habib became a financial analyst at the corporate finance department at Lehman Brothers in 1987.[9][10] In 1989, he was appointed as the finance director of the insurance broker PWS Holdings.[11][10]
In 1994 Habib became managing director of a private property development company, JKL Property. In 2000, he set up a commercial property fund investment company, First Property Group plc.[11] The company, for which he is chief executive officer, operates in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Romania.[12][10] In 2024, Habib ordered a share issue worth £3m after the firm reported a pre-tax loss of £4.41m.[13]
In July 2025, the Financial Times reported that Habib had purchased £80,000 worth of shares, increasing his holding in the company to nearly 17 per cent.[14]
Political career
[edit]Euroscepticism
[edit]Habib was a Conservative Party voter and donor until 2019.[15][4][16] He supported Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum, arguing that the UK would benefit from trade opportunities, regained sovereignty, and control over immigration.[9][17] He supported a No-deal Brexit which reportedly would have been favourable to his business.[18][19]
During the 2019 European parliament elections, Habib stood as the first of six candidates for the Brexit Party in the London constituency, and was elected as one of its two MEPs in London.[20][21] Habib sat with the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, was delegated for relations with the countries of South Asia.[22]
According to Transparency International, Habib was the wealthiest MEP in the Ninth European Parliament based on annual earnings from his other job. He declared €960,000 annual earnings from his company, First Property Group.[23] In January 2020 Habib voted in favour of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, which included the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was ratified by the EU Parliament.[24]
In February 2020 Habib described the Protocol as being a unique advantage to Northern Ireland, as it could create a tiger economy. He also urged Unionists to 'make it work for its own great benefit and that of the United Kingdom'.[25][26]
Legal challenge against the Northern Ireland Protocol
[edit]In February 2021, Habib, together with TUV party leader Jim Allister, and Baroness Hoey, applied for a judicial review of the Northern Ireland Protocol. They were later joined in their litigation by Arlene Foster, the incumbent First Minister of Northern Ireland; David Trimble, the inaugural First Minister; and Steve Aiken, leader of the UUP.[27] The main cause of their legal action was to scrutinise the legality and constitutionality of the Protocol, with regard to their claim that it, and related regulations were incompatibile with the Acts of Union 1800.[28]
In June 2021, the High Court of Northern Ireland (HCNI) in Belfast dismissed the legal challenge on several grounds, including its conflict with the Acts of Union 1800 and thus unconstitutional.[28][29] The HCNI ruled that although the Protocol conflicted with the Acts of Union the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 also has constitutional effect and had implicitly repealed aspects of the Acts.[30] The court also rejected arguments based on the Northern Ireland Act, the European Convention on Human Rights and EU law. Likewise, the court rejected a challenge to the Regulations, which provided that the consent mechanism in the Protocol was not to be subject to the cross-community voting rules in the Assembly.[31] On 14 March 2022, that decision was affirmed by the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, with the judgment making reference to the 'obvious inconsistency' of Habib first voting in favour of the Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol, as stated in paragraph 11 of his sworn affidavit, but then subsequently calling for a repudiation.[32][33]
On 30 November 2022, it was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.[34] On 8 February 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed the challenge.[35][36][37] On 21 March 2023, Northern Ireland Office minister Lord Caine (responding to a written question by Kate Hoey) asserted that the UK Government had spent £196,567 on legal fees associated with defending the challenges against the Northern Ireland Protocol.[38][39]
Reform UK
[edit]In October 2023 he was appointed a co-deputy leader of Reform UK, alongside David Bull, who had been deputy since 2021.[40][41] At the same time he became the party's Brexit and the Union spokesman. He was the party's candidate for the Wellingborough by-election in February 2024. Habib finished third of eleven candidates, with 13% of the vote, the party's best result at a by-election.[42][43] He was the Reform candidate for Wellingborough and Rushden constituency at the 2024 general election where he came third with 21.5% of the vote.[44]
In April 2024, Habib was criticised for remarks he made during an interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV, where he suggested that migrants crossing the English Channel by boat should be left to drown.[45] Habib defended his comments, as he was asked about migrants that slashed their boats, causing them to sink. Habib stated: 'If people are going to repeatedly throw themselves in the channel and refuse the help of our specialised force in order to get back in the boats and go on to France – of course their lives are going to be in danger.'[46]
Criticism of Reform UK
[edit]In July 2024 Habib was removed as the deputy leader of Reform UK and replaced by Richard Tice.[47][48] He then criticised the new constitution as 'undemocratic'.[49]
Habib was appointed as chairman of Great British PAC in September 2024.[50]
Habib left Reform UK on 28 November 2024, after a reported fallout with Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf. He said he was concerned about the party's structure as well as having "fundamental differences" over Brexit, and disagreements over immigration, with Habib in favour of mass deportations.[51]
In March 2025, Habib called Reform MP Rupert Lowe's suspension 'an injustice'. Habib accused Farage and Reform UK chairman Yusuf of 'trumping up complaints against' Lowe to oust him after Elon Musk suggested Lowe should become Leader of Reform UK instead of Farage. Habib called for both men's resignations.[52][53] On 7 July 2026, Habib told The Independent that he had contacted the Electoral Commission, urging them to investigate allegations that Nigel Farage had failed to properly declare donations from a convicted criminal over a five-year period.