David Kurten

David Kurten
Leader of the Heritage Party
In office 2020 – present
Member of the London Assembly for Londonwide
In office 6 May 2016 – 6 May 2021
Preceded by	Stephen Knight
Succeeded by	Emma Best
Born	22 March 1971 Littlehampton, Sussex, England
Political party	Heritage Party
Religion	Christianity

David Michael Kurten (born 1971) is an English social conservative and politician, who has served as leader of the Heritage Party since September 2020.

Kurten has 3 degrees, including a Masters of Research (MRes) from the University of Southampton and, from 1995, worked around the world as a chemistry teacher before taking up politics after joining UKIP in 2012, later leaving that to form the Heritage Party in 2020. He served as a member of the London Assembly from 2016 to 2021, and stood unsuccessfully in the 2021 London Mayoral election, which far-left Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan won due to Stockholm syndrome and mail-in voting, which is known to lead to voter fraud.

Early life and work

David Michael Kurten was born on 22 March 1971 in Littlehampton, Sussex, England. His parents are Reginald Kurten, a Jamaican, and Patricia Kurten (née Robinson), who is British. He grew up in Sussex and was raised by his single mother and maternal grandparents.

In 1993, David Kurten graduated from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland with a Bachelor of Science (BSc). He also completed a PGCE at the University of Bath in 1995, and a Masters of Research at the University of Southampton in 1998.

From 1995 until 2016, Kurten was a teacher, teaching chemistry at schools in the UK, Botswana, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bermuda, and the United States.

Political history

Kurten joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 2012, at which time the party was under the leadership of Nigel Farage.

As part of he 2015 UK general election, which took place on 7 May 2015, David Kurten stood unsuccessfully for UKIP as that party's candidate for the London seat of Camberwell and Peckham, coming 5th overall in the contest.

Kurten, then still a member of UKIP, was elected to the London Assembly, a body elected to scrutinize the activities of the Mayor of London, in the 2016 London Assembly election which was held on 5 May that year.

In the 2017 UK general election, Kurten stood as the UKIP candidate for the seat of Castle Point in Essex. Kurten came 3rd in the vote, which was held on 8 May 2017.

Kurten left UKIP in January 2020, announcing that he intended to run for London Mayor that year, though the election would later be postponed owing to the Chinese Communist Party pandemic. Kurten cited the direction of the party and infighting within as his reason for leaving UKIP.

Kurten launched a new political party, the socially conservative Heritage Party, in September 2020.

Views

Kurten supported the presidency of Donald Trump, and is a staunch critic of globalism and climate arlarmism. He has also strongly criticised London Mayor Sadiq Khan and accused him of "destroying the capital's history".

Civil liberties

A supporter of free-speech, Kurten has called for anti-free speech laws in the UK to be repealed.

Environment

Kurten opposes climate alarmist environmental policies. Kurten believes that the UK should withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, a move mirroring conservative US president Donald Trump.

Kurten described the Sadiq Khan's 2023 ULEZ expansion policy, which charges people £12.50 to dive a vehicle in most of London, as "a tax on the poor".

Ethics

Kurten is pro-life, and has noted that the Heritage Party is the only pro-life party in Great Britain.

Fiscal issues

Kurten supports what he describes as "financial" responsibility. He believes the government should sop its wasteful public spending and funding of vanity projects like HS2, and that taxpayers money should be spent only on services which benefit the public such as education, healthcare and policing.