Whittaker was born in Oldham, Lancashire. He was educated at Queen Mary University of London (BSc Physics, 1966) and the University of Cape Town (PhD Physics, 1980; BA Economics, 1982). He is a senior lecturer in economics at Lancaster University. His main research and teaching interests are in monetary policy and macroeconomics, and recently he has taken a particular interest in the problems associated with the single currency.[1]
Whittaker was the UKIP's lead candidate in the North West for the European Parliament elections in 1999. Though UKIP gained 6.5% of the vote in the region, he fell short of being elected by about 0.5 per cent. However, in 2004 he was more successful, being one of 12 UKIP candidates to win a European seat in the big UKIP breakthrough of that year.
In 2005, Whittaker became UKIP's official spokesman on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In September 2006, following the election of Nigel Farage as leader of UKIP, Whittaker was appointed party chairman.
