Unfortunately a rather clever move.
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Reform UK discussion
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Tracked
Established Member
What is it about Reform MP's not being able to hack a full term in office 
Purple Train
Established Member
I've just been pondering whether there should be some sort of formal electoral pact. Certainly I think that it would be a bad idea for Labour to stand.
Railwaycat
Member
Well of course, the voters of Clacton will give him a mandate (again)!
Now where's Clacton?
Is it some high tech industrial hub that represents the whole country, or is it just a run down seaside resort that nobody visits anymore?
Now where's Clacton?
Is it some high tech industrial hub that represents the whole country, or is it just a run down seaside resort that nobody visits anymore?
Sorry to say I won a bet with someone that he'd do this.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
straight out of the trump playbook: "lawfare", establishment out to get him, nobody more attacked than him, family harassed etc etc
His plan is clearly to win re election and claim that because the people of Clacton (!) have no problem with his behaviour these corrupt standards officials should give up any investigations
His plan is clearly to win re election and claim that because the people of Clacton (!) have no problem with his behaviour these corrupt standards officials should give up any investigations
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Let's wait and see. His old mate Rupert Lowe's based just up the coast, and he's made this election a test of his probity. I fear he'll get in and use it to say "everything's fine" but reckon the chance of him crashing burning is non-zero.
Jon_jpwh
Member
Is he going to stand as an independent? How do Reform choose their candidates?
SuspectUsual
Established Member
- Joined
- 11 Jul 2018
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- 6,671
Wonder what Rupert Lowe thinks
brad465
Veteran Member
Basically an attempt to control the narrative. Also means he'll finally have to attend Clacton.
The best chance to unseat him is for a Martin Bell-tpye candidate to stand, but that presumes there is one in the area.
The best chance to unseat him is for a Martin Bell-tpye candidate to stand, but that presumes there is one in the area.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
the investigations carry on - but he will say they shouldn't because the people of Clacton have no problem with him.
It’s Reform’s call apparently - the Chief Whip of the party which held the seat moves the writ.
Would be interesting to see whether the establishment parties actually decide to stand a candidate in this byelection. Im thinking of 2008 in Haltemprice and Howden where the incumbent MP stood down in protest over the Labour government’s erosion of civil liberties, but the point he was trying to make being a little bit watered down by the fact that his two primary opponents declined to field a candidate, meaning his re-election was almost a dead cert.
On the Tendring peninsula along with Harwich, a town that’s justifiably proud of its role in the kindertransport and has a memorial to it.
nlogax
Established Member
Campaigning on that 'people vs the establishment' platform will be all he has. Certainly he's lacking any sort of record of constituency success but I don't really think the people of Clacton really care that much.
There should be no other candidates fielded except Count Binface. It would be a pretty limited mandate to say you beat a candidate with a bin on his head.
Won't he just pitch that as the other parties running scared of standing against him?
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Indeed not sure what hes gaining by this other than keeping himself in the media spotlight but hes just spent 15 minutes demonising the media!!
Purple Train
Established Member
Wasn't there a bit of a fuss in 2024 when Farage imposed himself as candidate in Clacton and therefore angered the original Reform candidate who he'd unilaterally replaced?
He would, and given the conspiracist tendencies that he relies upon, it would be a good lever for him to use. Better by far for those that can't do well to put up paper candidates.
Much as I despise them, part of me would quite like a challenge from the Greens - and if they beat him, the meltdown would do much for the gaiety of the nation
martin butler
Member
- Joined
- 9 Oct 2018
- Messages
- 847
Alot will depend on what share of the vote, Farage can command, after all he has been invisible in the constituency that elected him, the only way he could be beaten is if enough people vote for a candidate that's not Farage, to unseat him, Or he could suddenly decide he has better pickings in the US, and announce halfway though the recess, because any by-election can't take place whilst the house is in recess, that he won't now be standing?
I hope the other parties refuse to stand in this bye election and don't give him the mandate he is after.
Winning against oneself would be an interesting sell and the other parties could call out the waste of public money on a pointless election triggered for personal gain.
Winning against oneself would be an interesting sell and the other parties could call out the waste of public money on a pointless election triggered for personal gain.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Whichever way they play it, he'll wheel out his conspiracy theories and his supporters will lap them up. If they don't put up a fight they're running scared, if they only put up paper candidates they're making a mockery of democracy, if they fight hard then they're an elite using money to silence the victim. If he wins he's a hero, if he loses they fixed it to get rid of him.
The best way of dealing with this is to simply ignore him. Don't put a candidate up, don't have a Question Time special from Clacton, don't have 24/7 news coverage of what he says or doesn't say.
But nobody will learn the lesson of Trump and the likes of Kuenssberg, Peston, and especially Fiona Bruce will already be peeing their pants in excitement.
Purple Train
Established Member
Agreed on the Greens.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
At the GE the Labour candidate started to get some traction but he was "distracting" from Keir Starmer's campaign by being a bit too left-wing. So they banned him from campaigning in Clacton, banned his constituency party from social media, and even forced the candidate to start campaigning in the West Midlands rather than in the seat he was trying to win.
Labour ‘not putting up a fight’ against Farage in Clacton
Labour officials said to be upset that Jovan Owusu-Nepaul was gaining traction for viral social media posts
www.theguardian.com
Whatever happens, I'd hope Burnham would be a bit less obtuse than that.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I can't help but agree with all of this.
He's trying to control the narrative; it's a classic dead cat distraction against the recent revelations, and the swivel eyed conspiracy types will stop looking a chemtrails and look at the pernicious impact of the establishment (like a public school educated former commodities broker who's been in politics for 30 years isn't establishment).
Best for the main parties to say that they aren't going to participate in a cynical exercise to distract from the real issue of Nigel's financial dealings. Let it be the Greens and Restore....and Binface
I'm hearing reports that Farrage has said:
Personally I would have gone for Jo Cox or Sir David Amess.