Soap star Danny Dyer and controversial politician Lord Hanningfield both feature in this year’s Essex Power 100 - a list of the county’s most influential people.
Several surprising names can be spotted on this year’s Essex Power 100 list – including some public figures who have faced their fair share of criticism.
The top two personalities remain unchanged from 2017 – with entrepreneur Lord Sugar bagging first place for the second year running, followed by businessman and former football manager Glenn Tamplin.
Further down, the MP for Witham, Priti Patel, drops from third to fourth place following the government scandal that forced her to resign from the cabinet in November 2017.
Another public figure to slip down the rankings is Lord Hanningfield, from Chelmsford, who has dropped from 18th to 20th place.
The former leader of Essex County Council was sent to prison in 2011 after being found guilty of six counts of expenses fraud worth £14,000. He was subsequently suspended from the House of Lords.
Rock icon Sir Rod Stewart, multi-millionaire Sir Charles Dunstone, former TOWIE star Vas J Morgan and local MP James Cleverly are among the new inductees in this year’s list.
They join Love Island star Dani Dyer who features alongside her dad Danny, while sporting events promoter Barry Hearn makes his debut beside his son Eddie.
Meanwhile, chef Jamie Oliver from Clavering has failed to make the cut two years running, while Dagenham-born TV star Stacey Solomon, who ranked 45th last year, is also absent.
Other household names on 2018’s list include pop star Olly Murs, X-Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary and comedian Michael Barrymore.
The list, vastly seen as the “Forbes for Essex”, details the achievements of the powerful and influential figures from the worlds of business, entertainment, sport, religion and politics.
From June each year two teams of researchers begin curating and researching names for the list which are put forward to a panel of judges for consideration.
This part of the process is open to the public who can submit their suggestions to the judges via email.
From early September, the judging panel – appointed by a consortium of 20 Essex businesses – begin scrutinising the submissions and decide on the list, taking into consideration individuals’ achievements both past and present.
The president of EssexPower100 is then advised of the final list by the middle of October.
EssexPower100 president, Nicholas Taylor, said of this year’s selection: “It has been an extremely interesting year, so many changes and a very impressive list of additions to the list.”
See the full list for 2018 below:
1. Lord Sugar
2. Glenn Tamplin
3. Sir Rod Stewart
4. Priti Patel MP
5. Sir Jack Petchey
6. Deborah Meaden
7. Russell Brand
8. Sir Charles Dunstone
9. Gemma Collins
10. Eddie Hearn
11. Ray Winstone
12. Mark Wright
13. Danny Dyer
14. Lord Michael Ashcroft
15. Bhikhu and Vijay Patel
16. David Sullivan
17. Jon Hunt
18. Ross Kemp
19. Shami Chakrabarti
20. Lord Hanningfield
21. Joey Essex
22. Sir Keith Mills
23. Olly Murs
24. David Gold
25. James Argent
26. Michael Barrymore
27. Bill Ives *
28. David Gandy
29. Barry Hearn
30. Ronald ‘Ron’ Martin
31. Fred Done
32. James Cleverly MP
33. Amy Childs
34. Dermot O’Leary
35. Mark Dixon
36. Robert Halfon MP
37. Rita Simons
38. Stephen Metcalf MP
39. Casey Batchelor
40. Vas J Morgan
41. Robbie Cowling
42. George Courtauld DL
43. Sir Eric Pickles
44. Sam Faiers
45. Ray O’Rourke
46. Tommy Mallet
47. Adam Brooks
48. Alfie Best
49. Patrick McKenna
50. Vicki Michelle
51. Ben Shephard
52. Michael Gooch
53. Billy Murray
54. Councillor Stephen Canning
55. Dylan Hunt
56. Simon Dolan
57. Dame Maggie Smith
58. Mick Norcross
59. Anna Kennedy OBE
60. Stephen Kavanagh
61. Chris and Jeff Galvin
62. Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell
63. Jesse & Nick Bassi
64. Amar Adatia
65. Richard Chiassaro
66. Brian De’ath
67. Anne Wafula Strike
68. Dr Dominique Tropeano
69. Frank Khalid
70. Dani Dyer
71. Kierston Wareing
72. Amy Christophers
73. Casey Stone
74. Douglas Carswell
75. Davood Ghadami
76. Tony & Lorenzo Manconi
77. Nishall Garala
78. Mario Flacone
79. Michelle Dockery
80. Bobby Norris
81. Kierston Waering
82. Kirk Norcross
83. John Hall. DL
84. Jamie Ohara
85. Chris Moorman
86. Stevi Ritchie
87. Vic Goddard
88. Lee Mead
89. Chris Silverwood
90. Jordan Gray aka Tall Dark Friend
91. Lord Petre
92. Sam Renke
93. James W Phillips
94. Bradley Green
95. Lou Birt
96. Richard Colton
97. Joe Thomas
98. Rob Beckett
99. Jeff Brazier
100. Dr John Ashdown-Hill
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