Why are no other parties putting forward candidates in the Clacton by election?

[minmooch]

I understand that they do not want to participate in the Farage political stunt but if no one but Farage and Bin Face stand surely no one will vote in Bin Face? Then Farage gets back in? If only 2 people turn out to vote is that enough to get either one in?

I have tried to read what will happen but it just seems to be about not participating in this stunt with no explanation as to what happens then.

If anyone of them thought they would win you can guarantee they would have stood.

This is this established parties closing ranks for the mutually beneficial outcome for themselves of not getting the certain lose and making Farage look silly.

Farage should have war gamed scenario in his planning.

Equally you can bet Farage wouldn't have attempted this if he had a majority of 500. Or perhaps even if he thought Reform might win in GM. There'd be no sticking two fingers up to the establishment then!

You're very right though, he should absolutely have considered the fact that he can't force any other party to stand. It's an incredibly bad call, which is why it's so funny.

Quite. I don't know much about the man behind Binface other than he's a comedian and writer on eg HIGNFY and took a degree in Classics at Oxford (a sign of intelligence rather than a mark of shame, one would think) and I doubt the Reform wailers about "the Establishment" do either.

NF? Son of a stockbroker, fee paying Dulwich College, commodities trader...he was hardly elected from employment in a coal mine like Dennis Skinner, was he?

He's about as much a friend of the disillusioned and marginalised as Trump is, ie not at all.

Quite and if the majority was 500 you can bet the other parties wouldn't be standing aside.

Farage could be arguing this proves that the other parties hate him and will work in consort against him, so no wonder if has no faith in the conclusion of a parliamentary committee of MPs.

He’s a big elitist baby

I was replying to @Bluefairywand

I don't think you have ANY idea what I believe. So I don't know who you think "people like me" are. I'm not a denialist. Don't be so arrogant.

I am one of the people who, while I am not a Reformist, think that a lot of people on the left (my side) are absolutely in denial about Reform's appeal and other parties need to do better to beat them, as we've been handing them open goals for years. It has been very frustrating.

However, that is absolutely NOT the case here and the idea that this has happened because "the other parties are running scared' is laughable in the case of this by-election. Farage has fucked up big time because HE is running scared of being called out for his financial dealings.

I'm sorry but they and ALL the other parties, including one far to the right of Farage, have taken the opportunity and open goal Farage and his ego have handed them and run with it. It could defeat him and end his career for good although it won't defeat his supporters. His own silly fault.

Mmm I think that argument will probably work well with most of his core support, particularly if he does win the seat with a decent majority. Maybe some at the margins will be deterred a bit by him so obviously being outthought, but I would think only a minority. It might even further shore up some of that core who'd vote for him whatever he did. Obviously all bets off if he loses, but he probably won't.

The downside for him is that there's obviously political benefit to other parties in doing anti-Reform things. The electorate have shown clear willingness to vote tactically against them. I haven't yet seen any polling of non Reform voters on what they think of the other parties not standing, probably too soon, but anedotally it looks pretty popular. Reform aren't likely to get a majority from 25% of the electorate with a good chunk of the rest despising them- they have to try and poach voters from elsewhere. Showing yourselves up like this doesn't help with that.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Yes, Nigel five houses, £5 mill personal donation to do as he pleases with but no strings attached guv, ex commodities trader, rich person. Please feel bad for me poverty stricken marginalised voters of Clacton and vote for me.
Would be funny if it didn't remind me of Trump.

Indeed. He is 100% establishment, he's a lazy fucker, and he likes to milk it as much as possible. Absolute parasite. He (and the likes of Tice and Rupert Lowe of Restore) are all extremely wealthy men who don't keep their own money in the country, and care very little about the daily lives and realities of the people foolish enough to vote for them. Who will get a nasty shock when they realise that some of the things they take for granted will be taken away from themselves and their families because Farage et al, much like Trump, really do not give a flying fuck about the little people in reality. And then we'll be back to square one, trying to rebuild what they have lost us.

The problem is, very few of the other parties' extremely out of touch politicians care about ordinary people either. And everyone can see it. But Farage, Lowe et al are honestly not the answer. Their voters will lose a lot more than they gain by us ending up with them, you mark my words.

The investigation isn’t interested in Farage’s position as MP for Clacton. Or anywhere. Whether ‘the people’ don’t give a fuck about his bent dealings was never the question - Nigel could kill their Nan and bbq her at a party and they would STILL support him because immigration.

The investigation IS interested in Nigel and Reform’s financial behaviour as it appears there are many irregularities - personal ones. This isn’t about donations to Reform (a limited company, I wonder why), this is about gifts to NF and others, as well as the EU funds he siphoned into funding the Brexit campaign.

As my Financial Intelligence Officer DH says ‘follow the money’.

I am not a fan of Badenoch but she is right not to legitimise Farage's tantrum by putting a candidate up.
If he had properly stepped down that's different and all the parties would have put a candidate up but he hasn't which just turns it into a publicity stunt.
It's always best to ignore that kind of behaviour

I think that one thing is clear in the rallying behind Binface is that the streak of anarchic humour in the British is still alive and well. It pricks pomposity and is always on the side of the underdog (underbin)

The self aggrandising, shifty move of calling a by election to deflect attention from your shady dealings was always going to have the possibility of unleashing it and N 'Man of the People' Farage was too smug to see it. Petard, hoist, with own.

He may win, but the Count will haunt his every political step forever. He's already won.

Democracy confers rights to the electorate and it is the electorate who matter. Not the opinions of the political parties. You do understand that, don’t you?

Ironically, given Farage's claims to stand for "the British people" it would be THE most British thing ever for him to be defeated by a man in a friggin' Bin costume.

And yes, you're right. "We" as a nation don't tend to like pomposity. Of any stripe. Humour has long been our way of pricking that sort of arrogance as old Nige is about to find out.

The real reason is that they have no chance of winning - all the rest is just grandstanding,

I think in Farage's head it played out something like this
"I'll call a by-election and still stand, but I'll put in a half arsed attempt at a campaign. Once I've lost, I'll make a bit of noise about it being rigged, fuck off to the USA and everything will be forgotten about".
Since all the other parties have said "nah mate, we're not playing your game", he's realised that he's got to put his all into it to avoid the humiliation of being beaten by a man with a bucket on his head and he (Farage), will end up back in the HoC, the whole shady business won't be going anywhere and he'll get booted out anyway in disgrace. His poor, frail ego will never recover and he's shitting himself because his Baldrick style "cunning plan" has blown up in his face.

The opinions of the political parties matter rather a lot when it comes to whether they want to run candidates.

In any case, there's nothing stopping anyone who has particularly strong feelings about the choices faced by the Clacton electors from standing themselves. You're allowed to run as an independent who will vote with the Lib Dems on every issue if elected. They can't stop you. The deposit and 10 signatures would be easily enough gathered if you spent enough time on social media.

Has he requested to be released yet ? So he can stand as a candidate ?

He’s not new to politics. He must have known the rag tag list of alternative/comedy candidates and a lack of fielding of a candidate from the major parties was a probable outcome based on the last time an MP used the same tactic.

Some time last week I noticed a story (still got the screenshot) and got a gut feeling that he’s feeling his age, every left over pain and ache from the plane crash, and can’t face the prospect of losing close to everything and having to start again… again.

But walking away is tricky without making enemies in his own party. Cos despite what it said in the story, Nigel is Reform and without Nigel, Reform will go the way of UKIP, the Brexit Party etc. So kind of hard for him to just resign, pootle off saying it’s time to pass the baton to somebody younger. Cos his own party would be Really Not Happy with him.

Now however, he can tell is party & supporters The Establishment are deliberately messing up his cunning plan cos they are Frit Nigel Hating bastards, and say that the unrelenting mocking of him standing against a bin will damage the party more than him leaving and letting somebody take his place as candidate.

I am possibly on completely wrong track. But if he is as knackered and over it all as I sensed he was before the latest kerfuffle, this might have been a plan to make his way out of politics, without his own party coming out with long knives for him. Cos they do seem to be buying that it’s a stitch up by the other major parties.

Farage’s stunt isn’t about that though - well done, Clacton, you got what you voted for. Nigel Farage has resigned, but then said he will stand to be re-elected in the by-election he caused by resigning. Other than a callous waste of money, what is the point? No one has said he can’t be MP for Clacton - he was, fair and square.

What he is repeatedly saying is ‘no one cares’ about the rule flouting, or financial irregularities which is absolutely fine. No one has to care about anything (though wanting a man who siphons off tax payer money to fund a vanity campaign, and accepts money from non-British donors to the tune of several million to lead the country SHOULD make people care, a lot. Regardless of our standing on the world stage, we should certainly want the country’s economy run legally).

However, luckily, the law does care. About lawbreaking, and in offices in a variety of locations…there are people following the money.

You are focusing on a by-election which has been created by a cornered man trying desperately to use a specific demographic’s lack of questioning and critical thinking subvert the law. It might work in America (it’s not, resentment is growing and support for Trump is turning at grass roots level). But it doesn’t wash here. Count Binface FTW!

This is the list of candidates the last time a sitting MP resigned to call a by election in which he would then stand (and win). So what is happening now was predictable.

His base will believe whatever shite he tells them.🤷‍♀️. Nigel Farage is a well established member of The Establishment

Also, the parties will stand candidates if the standards investigation triggers a By-election. They dont need to indulge this circus. I'm proud of them for taking a stand against this stunt. Now they can chill and enjoy the spectacle with the rest of us this summer.
😎🥤😁

So you accept the Reform is a mainsteam party then? It's confusing cause people seem to both post that they are extemist but also establishment.

Reform are a political party (limited company). They are far right and extremist.

Nigel Farage is an individual who was privately educated, worked in stocks shares etc etc. He is very much the Establishment.

The clever thing he has done is to trick people like you that HE is Reform, and Reform is him.

This happens when you support the individual, and don’t research their past, and full manifesto (with costings).

My mum used to say ‘oh, but Boris is SUCH a funny man’ and then cried when she went into negative equity on her Spanish property she couldn’t afford to live in.

Due diligence, not headlines.