Nick Marcel Tenconi (born March 1984) is a British politician, personal trainer and activist who has been the interim leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) since June 2024. He is also a leader of the right-wing pressure group Turning Point UK.
Biography
Tenconi is a self-employed personal trainer who runs a lifestyle coaching business from a gym in Reading.[1][2] In 2023, Tenconi received publicity after driving to Ukraine to deliver aid.[3]
As the COO of Turning Point UK, he has been involved in organising street demonstrations in London's Honor Oak at a pub which had previously held drag queen storytime events, and in counter protests against Palestine solidarity marches in London. The repeated protests by TPUK saw hundreds of counter protesters outnumbering and drowning out TPUK's activists.[4] According to Trans Safety Network, Tenconi "was enthusiastically involved in the street violence, personally offering to fight individuals, and physically moving towards and grabbing at counter-protesters. This is evidence of a clear turn by TPUK towards unapologetic street fascism."[5] The LGBT news website Pink News wrote that Tenconi "uses his Twitter platform to espouse hateful anti-trans views."[6]
A feature on the radical right published by Hope not Hate said of Turning Point UK that "following the addition of COO Nick Tenconi to the group, it appears to be in the process of reinventing itself as a street-protest organiser, taking a key role in the demonstrations against drag queen storytelling sessions throughout the year."[7]
UKIP
He was elected as deputy leader of UKIP in May 2024, after having only recently joined, and has been acting leader since Lois Perry quit and endorsed Nigel Farage's Reform UK during the 2024 general election.[8] Perry later claimed that she quit because "there was something 'sinister' going on, which she had not foreseen: certain elements in the leadership, whom she does not name, 'wanted to go after quite an extreme viewpoint'". However, she said that Tenconi was not part of this extremist tendency.[9]
After Tenconi took leadership of UKIP, it attempted to move closer to controversial journalist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (known as Tommy Robinson), appointed anti-Islam activist and priest Calvin Robinson as its lead spokesperson,[10] and entered into talks with anti-Muslim influencer Katie Hopkins.[11]
Tenconi was also seen with a loudspeaker at anti-migrant protests in Plymouth in August 2024,[12] and at other anti-migrant protests in Aldershot and Reading leading chants of 'invaders out'.[13] Tenconi alleged that a man who killed three young girls in Southport, which sparked the anti-migrant riots, was "under orders".[14] Tenconi was also at a protest in Trafalgar Square on 1 August which turned violent.[15]
