July 1, 2025
News release
Former Olympic ski-team trainer becomes leader of Rejoin EU Party
Kent hotelier Richard Morley, who led Nepal’s first ever Winter Olympics appearance at the 2002 Games in and around Salt Lake City in the US, has been appointed to lead the Rejoin EU party.
The former Royal Navy officer made international headlines in the mid-1990s during a seven-year legal struggle against John Major’s government for his adoption of the Nepali son of a deceased policeman who had once saved his life in Nepal's Annapurna mountains.
Morley fully supports and plans to advance the Rejoin EU Party's central aim of boosting the UK economy and restoring the country's flagging global political influence by re-joining the EU.
“Britain cannot flourish without a common bond with other nations,” he said. “It is as if we face alone a jungle of
terrors; climate breakdown, economic inequality, unaffordable housing, war and mass displacement.
terrors; climate breakdown, economic inequality, unaffordable housing, war and mass displacement.
“And yet we could easily face these threats with others sharing the same journey. We could team up together and compete, not against each other in a futile struggle for national advantage, but in unison against the menaces of our age.
“Eventually the whole world will need to unify if civilisation is to survive into the next century. By re-joining the EU, Britain will be showing not only a fine example of that spirit, but clear evidence of the difficulties experienced during Britain’s solitary journey in the jungle.”
Morley plans to continue the Rejoin EU Party's inclusive and progressive approach to politics. Addressing delegates at the party's conference earlier this year at King’s College, London, he said: “The Rejoin EU Party isn't composed of career politicians, but of local people, chosen by their communities to represent their real needs over any fixed party ideology. There is no party whip beyond a commitment to re-joining the EU, proportional representation and zero tolerance for all forms of discrimination.
“As nature thrives on the interplay between diverse elements, so too does our party through the need to accommodate all the contrasting views within it. Without that effort, we can never hope to appeal to all of the diverse electorate whose hopes for a better future in Europe we strive for.”
Having used Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights as the mainstay of his legal argument to fight against the deportation of his de facto son, Morley believes firmly in the full observation and enforcement of international law and human rights.
“Jack Straw gave my son residence rights on his very first day in office in 1997 because of those rights and his observation of them’, he said. “Since then, my son has earned his citizenship, never been unemployed, built his own family and become a much respected member of his local community.”
A YouGov poll on the recent 9th anniversary of the Brexit Referendum indicated 56% support for re-joining the EU, with the backing of 68% of those aged 25-49.