Ben Obese-Jecty

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Ben Obese-Jecty
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
ConstituencyHuntingdon
Personal details
Born
Benjamin Obese-Jecty

September 1979 (age 44)
Kingston-upon-Thames
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Alma materKingston University, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Websitebenobese-jecty.org.uk
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceBritish Army
Years of service2004-2012
RankCaptain
Unit
Battles/wars

Benjamin Obese-Jecty (born September 1979[1]) is a British politician. He is the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Huntingdon[2] in the next United Kingdom general election. He is a former British Army officer,[3] and writes for the Daily Telegraph.[4]

Early life and education[edit]

Ben Obese-Jecty was born in September 1979 in Kingston-upon-Thames. His father is originally Ghanaian but came to Britain on the SS Apapa as a four year old in 1953[5] accompanying his father who was working for the BBC World Service. His mother is British and comes from Washington, West Sussex. He was educated at Tiffin School in Kingston-upon-Thames. He studied Business Economics at Kingston University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 2001. As a teenager Obese-Jecty played rugby union for Harlequins youth teams and represented Surrey at U17 and U19 level.

After graduation, Obese-Jecty worked as a Management Accountant for Haymarket Publishing before leaving in November 2003 after passing the British Army's Regular Commissions Board and earning a place at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Military service[edit]

Obese-Jecty was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) after passing out from Sandhurst in December 2004[6] and was promoted to lieutenant in December 2005. In January 2006 he was deployed to Basra, Iraq on Operation Telic 7 attached to the King's Own Royal Border Regiment as a Battle Casualty Replacement. Operating from the Shatt Al-Arab Hotel base he acted as a Multiple Commander conducting Ground Dominating Area mortar base-plate patrols, vehicle check-points, vehicle interdictions by helicopter and joint patrols with the Iraqi Police Service.

Captain Ben Obese-Jecty (YORKS) on patrol in Sangin in 2010

After returning from Iraq Obese-Jecty spent time training Phase 1 recruits at Army Training Centre Pirbright before being posted to 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment commanding the Javelin Platoon. In August 2009 he was posted to 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment as A Company Second-in-Command ahead of the battalion's deployment to Afghanistan on Operation Herrick 11 as the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team mentoring the Afghan National Army in Sangin, Helmand Province.[7] Obese-Jecty retired from the British Army in December 2012 with the rank of captain.[8]

Political career[edit]

In the 2019 General Election, Obese-Jecty was selected for the Conservative Party in the safe Labour seat of Hackney North and Stoke Newington against then Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary Diane Abbott. He finished second in the seat to Diane Abbott achieving 11.9% of the vote. During the campaign Obese-Jecty was subjected to significant racial slurs from other Black people because he was standing for the Conservative Party.[9]

Following the election, Obese-Jecty continued to be actively involved in local politics becoming Chairman of his local Association. He also forged a role as a political commentator, writing regularly for the Daily Telegraph and Conservative Home.[10] He also began to make television appearances as a political commentator.[11]

Obese-Jecty has written about the ongoing racial slurs he has been subjected to for being a Black Conservative.[12][13]

In 2021 Obese-Jecty was appointed as a sitting member of the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee (VAPC) by Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer on a three-year term.[14] In February 2024 he became a co-opted member. Throughout his time serving on the VAPC Obese-Jecty has consistently campaigned for Commonwealth Veterans to receive equal treatment with British veterans upon discharge[15] calling for an overhaul to the process of Commonwealth service personnel to achieve Individual Leave to Remain after leaving the armed forces.[16][17]

Obese-Jecty has been a vocal campaigner against knife crime after living in a part of Haringey blighted by high levels of violence and a significant number of murders.[18][19][20][21]

In October 2022, Obese-Jecty was the first to highlight a mistake[22] from the Daily Mirror during Black History Month as they mistakenly published a picture of Bernard Mensah, President of the Bank of America confusing him for the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng.[23]

Obese-Jecty was selected as the Conservative candidate for Huntingdon on 23 September 2023. It is a notionally safe Conservative seat.

In November 2023, he criticised the BBC for broadcasting an episode of University Challenge in which one team had a green toy octopus, claiming that the octopus was a symbol of antisemitism.[24] These claims were denied by the contestant, and they later received damages from a Conservative peer who made similar claims.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Obese-Jecty, Benjamin. "Obese-Jecty Personal appointments". Companies House. uk.gov.
  2. ^ Atkinson, William (25 September 2023). "'Very impressive' Obese-Jecty selected for Huntingdon from a 'very competitive field'". Conservative Home. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Page 835 | Supplement 57541, 25 January 2005 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Ben Obese-Jecty". The Telegraph. 30 August 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  5. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (22 June 2023). "Windrush is a story of strivers, not victims". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Page 835 | Supplement 57541, 25 January 2005 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  7. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (17 August 2021). "Here's why the Afghan army that I helped to train fell so quickly". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Page 10033 | Supplement 60511, 21 May 2013 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  9. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (12 March 2024). "Standing for the Tories made me the 'wrong' type of black success". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Ben Obese-Jecty, Author at Conservative Home". Conservative Home. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  11. ^ 'Strong' intelligence of terror attacks being planned against Northern Ireland police, retrieved 12 March 2024
  12. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (26 July 2022). "'I'm a Black Conservative. The Racist Abuse From Black People Is Shocking'". Newsweek. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  13. ^ "The Critic Magazine: How have racial slurs become progressive politics?". Ben Obese-Jecty. 6 August 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  14. ^ "South west England Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee members". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  15. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (25 June 2020). "Benjamin Obese-Jecty: It's time the Government did right by Commonwealth veterans". Conservative Home. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  16. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (2 September 2021). "Afghan veterans are getting settled here, but what about the Commonwealth soldiers who served with them?". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  17. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (25 February 2022). "Ben Obese-Jecty: This week's Commonwealth veterans announcement was a start - but also a missed opportunity". Conservative Home. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  18. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (27 April 2021). "Ben Obese-Jecty: To tackle serious youth violence effectively, London needs a more robust strategy". Conservative Home. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  19. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (4 August 2021). "Violent crime is returning with vengeance, but the politically correct elite doesn't seem to care". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  20. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (11 October 2021). "Sadiq Khan needs to get his act together on knife crime". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  21. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (19 April 2023). "Ben Obese-Jecty: A ban on zombie knives alone won't end the scourge of youth violence". Conservative Home. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  22. ^ Obese-Jecty, Ben (1 October 2022). "Ben Obese-Jecty on X". x.com.
  23. ^ "That isn't me, Kwarteng tells Mirror over wrong image". BBC News. 1 October 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  24. ^ "University Challenge: BBC denies 'antisemitic' inclusion of mascot". The Independent. 21 November 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  25. ^ Walker, Peter; editor, Peter Walker Deputy political (6 March 2024). "Tory peer pays damages after alleging University Challenge mascot was antisemitic". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 April 2024. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
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