Key takeaways:
- Tendring District Council confirmed 34 candidates for the Clacton by-election, including 20 independents and several satirical candidates.
- Nigel Farage resigned as Clacton MP on 7 July amid scrutiny of his finances and is standing again as the Reform UK candidate.
- Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are not contesting the by-election, leaving Farage as the only candidate from a Westminster party.
Nigel Farage will face 33 opponents in the Clacton by-election next month, a crowded contest triggered by his own resignation and filled largely by independents, smaller parties and satirical candidates after Britain’s main Westminster parties declined to stand.
Tendring District Council confirmed 34 candidates for the Essex seat, with voting set for 13 August. The BBC reported that the council believes it is the highest number of candidates to stand in a by-election in modern times. Al Jazeera reported that the council said the field is believed to be the largest ever for a UK parliamentary election.
Farage, the Reform UK leader, resigned as MP on 7 July after increased scrutiny of his finances and a parliamentary investigation. Al Jazeera reported that he stepped down after weeks of controversy over gifts and donations he had not initially declared under parliamentary rules, including a five-million-pound ($6.7m) gift from a billionaire cryptocurrency investor and questions over other gifts and donations, including allegations that one donor was a convicted fraudster.
Farage has denied wrongdoing and is standing again. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in London on Friday, he said the by-election would give voters the final say.
“The people of Clacton can decide whether they back me or whether they back the establishment,” he said. “I’ve taken a punt because I like a gamble. I think they’re going to come down on my side. I hope and pray that they do. Yes, let the people decide. Let the people be my judge, not the Westminster elite.”
Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are not contesting the seat. Al Jazeera reported that the main parties described the by-election as a “media circus.” Farage is the only candidate from a Westminster party on the ballot.
The field includes 20 independents and several novelty candidates. Among the highest-profile challengers is Count Binface, the satirical candidate known for campaigning with a metal bin on his head. Al Jazeera identified him as comedian Jon Harvey and reported that he previously ran against former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Uxbridge and has twice contested London’s mayoral election.
The ballot also includes three candidates from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party: Nick The Incredible Flying Brick, Howling Laud Hope and Baron Von Thunderclap. Hope is the party’s leader, according to Al Jazeera. Actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox is also standing for the Reclaim Party.
Other candidates include representatives of the Social Democratic Party, the Forward Party, the Freedom Alliance, British Democrats, Rejoin EU, UK VOICE safer and stronger UK, the Count Binface Party, the Everyone is God Party and the Consensus Party, alongside numerous independents.
A lengthy Statement of Persons Nominated was posted outside Clacton Town Hall and published on Tendring District Council’s website.
The previous by-election record is understood to have been 26 candidates in Haltemprice and Howden in July 2008, the BBC reported. That contest was triggered by Conservative Sir David Davis in his own seat and was also ignored by the main Westminster parties.
Al Jazeera reported that online prediction market Polymarket gives Farage an implied probability of about 95 percent of winning, with Count Binface a distant second.
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