Thirty-four candidates have been confirmed for the Clacton by-election – thought to be the highest number to stand in a modern UK by-election – after Nigel Farage resigned as Reform UK MP on 7 July amid a parliamentary investigation into his finances, only to immediately stand again.
The list, posted outside Clacton Town Hall by acting returning officer Ian Davidson, contains 20 independents and a string of joke candidates, including three from the Monster Raving Loony Party. Among the highest-profile challengers are Count Binface – revealed by the New Statesman to be actor Jon Harvey – and actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox.
“Record 34 candidates, including joke contenders, will stand against Nigel Farage in the Clacton by-election on 13 August.”
None of the main Westminster parties, including Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats or the Green Party, are fielding candidates, leaving Farage as the sole representative of a major party in the Essex seat. The previous record of 26 candidates was set at the Haltemprice and Howden by-election in July 2008, triggered by the Tory MP David Davis.
Voters will go to the polls on 13 August. The full list of candidates is also published on Tendring District Council's website, where entries include Nick The Incredible Flying Brick, Howling Laud Hope and Baron Von Thunderclap – all from the Monster Raving Loony Party – alongside candidates from the Social Democratic Party, Freedom Alliance, UK VOICE, and the Consensus Party.
The unprecedented number of contenders has turned the by-election into a circus, but with Farage's own political future at stake, the joke candidates may prove to be more than a sideshow.