Clacton by-election

Primrose53

NF has been the most scrutinised, investigated person in Politics ever and nothing has ever stuck. I actually believe he has done nothing wrong. He is too smart to lie about this on national TV. In his statement I thought he explained himself very well and, to me, it made sense.

There is a Labour MP on TV talking about this just now and she is running him down and accusing him of stuff she cannot possibly know whether it’s true or not. They’re all spouting the same old lines “political stunt”. It’s nothing of the sort. If they thought they stood a chance at Clacton against NF they would be standing, no doubt about that.

Starmer the other day was all puffed up and spitting out the words that NF was wrapped up in sleaze. This is the man who has been forced to resign because of the sleaze he is involved with!

NF Also said he did not claim MP expenses.

Primrose53 You’re entitled to your views and to express them.

I’m afraid I simply don’t agree with you.

PS Primrose It’s so clearly a theatrical political stunt. He had so many other choices:-

1. Keep a dignified silence, as anyone totally “innocent” would do, whilst being investigated.

2. Issue his statement and not resign.

3. Issue his statement and resign, and stayed resigned.

Instead, he’s resigned, triggered a by-election, and is standing in the exact same seat he already had. Why on earth would the other established parties stand against him? It’s a complete waste of their time, Farage won last time, it’s the same constituency, with all the same people, and he’ll win again. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Meanwhile, behind the scenes the Erica committee will continue the investigation, if he’s don’t nothing wrong, he has nothing to fear? But the rules are very very clear, all gifts/ donations in the 12 months prior to being elected as an MP have to be declared. It appears Farage forgot to declare. It’ll be easy, either the rules were broken, or they were not.

This whole ridiculous fiasco reminds me so much of the ludicrous Cummings Rose Garden Speech and Barnard Castle.

Of course he claims expenses. All MPs do. He has claimed over £160,000 since he was elected. It's a matter of public record and easy to check. In fact he has claimed more than my MP who was also newly elected in July 2024.

Parliament could have blocked the by-election but it would be rare to do so unless a General Election is imminent in which case they can decide to leave a seat vacant.

Had they blocked so he would have whined that the “establishment” were stopping him when truth is he is very much part of the establishment.

As it was, the writ was moved today and the Speaker dealt with it with minimum fuss so the business of the House could continue.

You can watch it here. First business of the day.

www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/0a378fe5-0a46-4985-b945-4618db6cb14d

Political parties have a choice whether to run candidates in elections. All the main parties see this stunt for the sham it is and that it will all have to be done again anyway if he’s re-elected suspended and recalled. Why waste time, money and effort to satisfy his narcissistic strop?

There’s only a week to go before Parliament goes into summer recess anyway. I haven’t seen a date for the by-election yet but the timescale is usually 25-27 working days from the writ so it could happened by the end of August.

By the time Parliament returns it could all be done and dusted and the Standards people can resume their investigations.

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD the government could have blocked this by-election, they chose not to.

In my opinion they are aiding and abetting this circus

They absolutely are, and deliberately so. I think they played a clever hand on this one. They waited until the other parties had declared they weren’t going to stand, in the knowledge that it would subvert Farage’s ruse to get the upper hand and then said it could go ahead so he couldn’t say he wasn’t allowed to appeal to the voters in his constituency.

So Dale Vince can fund Count Binman but has pulled the rug on Forest Green Rover’s Women. Nice to know his priorities.

Primrose53

Primrose53

NF has been the most scrutinised, investigated person in Politics ever and nothing has ever stuck. I actually believe he has done nothing wrong. He is too smart to lie about this on national TV. In his statement I thought he explained himself very well and, to me, it made sense.

There is a Labour MP on TV talking about this just now and she is running him down and accusing him of stuff she cannot possibly know whether it’s true or not. They’re all spouting the same old lines “political stunt”. It’s nothing of the sort. If they thought they stood a chance at Clacton against NF they would be standing, no doubt about that.

Starmer the other day was all puffed up and spitting out the words that NF was wrapped up in sleaze. This is the man who has been forced to resign because of the sleaze he is involved with!

NF Also said he did not claim MP expenses.

He complained about his daughter’s house being shown by Sky News. But he himself showed him standing in front of it for a publicity photo. And he said he protects his family from publicity but was happy for them to be shown on tv when he did I’m a Celebrity. Listening to Farages speeches they all make sense, because he’s such a good talker. It’s only afterwards when you think about it you realise he’s just a con man.

the government could have blocked this by-election, they chose not to. In my opinion they are aiding and abetting this circus.

It isn’t a government decision. It is a decision for all MPs. There’s a process. The “resigning” MP applies to the Chancellor who makes them an unpaid steward - in this case Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.

The last time an MP’s application was refused was Viscount Chelsea in 1842.

Then the chief whip for the party of the resigning MP moves a writ to ask for a by-election. Lee Anderson did that this morning. The Speaker put it to a vote and the Ayes had it. I couldn’t see who said what as the camera was on the Speaker but there were not many MPs present, maybe 50 or so. It sounded like the loudest Ayes came from the bench where Reform sit. Anderson was with Tice and Pochin.

Maybee. The address the Sky reporter visited is listed as Farage’s address in Companies House records and on the electoral register. Easy to find. And looking at the property, easy to erect some locked gates if he’s that bothered about security. It wouldn’t make much of a dent in £5 million.

Manufactured outrage on his part because he needed an excuse to resign and start this by-election charade.

AGAA4

A BBC reporter has spoken to the people of Clacton. Some say it a good move by Farage. Others say they can't be bothered voting again and some are disappointed that they can't vote for someone else.
All said nothing has changed in Clacton since Farage became their PM. As he pays them no attention that is hardly surprising.

Let’s hope that all those who were disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to vote for anyone else, will now vote for Count Binface!

Yes - because this time round, it's a genuine comment on a charade.

If Farage wins the by election, it will be difficult for Farage to claim he's been voted in by "the people" if he gets less than 50% of the vote and the the majority prefer to vote for "joke" candidates. It's difficult to predict if Reform will get it's voters out in number or if the opposite might happen and people turn out for a joke candidate. It will be interesting and if Farage gets back in, the process of investigating where he gets his dosh from will continue! I suspect there's a lot more murkiness to uncover.

I do too.
I think the reality will be a low turnout, although they will flood the town with Farage stuff.

…lf Farage gets back in, the process of investigating where he gets his dosh from will continue!

The process of investigating where Farage gets his money from is ongoing and being thoroughly investigated by some of the media, and, according to the Guardian report I read this morning, some by the Metropolitan police. No pause on that for self indulgent by elections.

The only process which is suspended is the investigation into him allegedly breaking parliamentary rules on the declaration of gifts.

I know this is nothing to do with Clacton but Jenrick is also under investigation by the police for a £37,500 donation received from a foreign source when he was a Tory.
What a murky lot Reform are.

Wyllow3

I do too.
I think the reality will be a low turnout, although they will flood the town with Farage stuff.

The whole Binface vs. Farage contest has gone global, so TBH I’ll be surprised if there’s a low turnout.
Social media are full of it. Goodness knows we all need some light relief in the news!

The bin is the official Labour candidate funded by a Labour donor mate, Dale Vince

Labour are insulting the Clacton voters

But if Labour voters were dim enough to vote for the Tin Man and make him PM. Dim is as dim does seems to me.

Sunshinegirls

The bin is the official Labour candidate funded by a Labour donor mate, Dale Vince

Labour are insulting the Clacton voters

But if Labour voters were dim enough to vote for the Tin Man and make him PM. Dim is as dim does seems to me.

Unacceptable insult to Labour voters. I didn't vote Labour but your post is very rude.

Sunshinegirls

The bin is the official Labour candidate funded by a Labour donor mate, Dale Vince

Labour are insulting the Clacton voters

But if Labour voters were dim enough to vote for the Tin Man and make him PM. Dim is as dim does seems to me.

Can you imagine the uproar if anybody said Reform voters were dim?

Offensive post.

"Sunshinegirls" what rubbish, DV may donate to the LP but he is most certainly not acting on it's behalf. If he chooses to fund Bin's campaign, he's doing it because he against Reform and Farage and Binface will properly declare it (unlike Farage.)

DV's Ecotricity benefits from subsidies set up by Labour in 2002 to encourage the development of renewable energy. The Conservative party continued with these subsidies during their 14 years of government, during which DV continued to build his company. Your information is highly selective.

A degree of paranoia. TBH, bin face is usually seen (to me) as a bit of an affront on our rights to vote, ie serious candidates, but this time him standing is to highlight how systems can be absued.

abused

Sunshinegirls

The bin is the official Labour candidate funded by a Labour donor mate, Dale Vince

Labour are insulting the Clacton voters

But if Labour voters were dim enough to vote for the Tin Man and make him PM. Dim is as dim does seems to me.

Count Binface is not the official Labour candidate and it’s a rather ridiculous assertion.

As always, if people bother to research they will see Binface has actually stood as the “comedic” character in many elections, he normally funds this with his own fundraising and/or “gofundme”

To attempt to blame this entire charade on the Labour Party is actually a “bit dim”

The bin is the official Labour candidate

Don’t be ridiculous. Stop blaming other people for a situation of Farage’s own making.

Count Binface stood against Boris Johnson in 2019, in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in 2023 after Johnson stood down, against Sadiq Khan in London and Rishi Sunak in 2024 and against Andy Burnham in Makerfield. Unless I am very much mistaken, two of those are very much Labour.

Jon Harvey is an independent satirist making important points about, amongst other things, the cost of living, privatisation and the failure to build enough social housing.

Any financial help CB does get, I hope it enables him to set up a campaign HQ in the Tendring village of Weeley!

Very good analysis from Richard Murphy about why what’s going on is more than a joke:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLQ8k1OyeY