Clacton by-election draws a ballot full of repeat names

Among the most seasoned is Howling Laud Hope, whose real name is Alan Hope. He has stood in 37 parliamentary elections since 1983, including contests against David Cameron and Theresa May. His best result came in the 2011 Leicester South by-election, where he finished last with 553 votes, or 1.6%, and he has never recovered a parliamentary deposit. Nick Delves, who stands as Nick the Incredible Flying Brick, has also repeatedly run for Parliament. His strongest showing was in West Derbyshire in 2001, when he took 472 votes, or 0.9%, and likewise fell short of the threshold needed to keep his deposit.

Tom Darwood, who appears on the ballot as Joseph 77, has contested eight parliamentary elections. His best finish came in Southend West in 2019, where he won 574 votes, or 1.2%. Baron Von Thunderclap, whose real name is Peter Berry, has stood in six parliamentary elections, all but one in Mid Sussex, and has never crossed the 5% mark. Count Binface, the comic alter ego of Jon Harvey, has run in four parliamentary elections and two London mayoral elections, including contests against Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Theresa May under a different character, Lord Buckethead. His best parliamentary result was 308 votes, or 0.6%, in Richmond and Northallerton in 2024.

Not every candidate on the Clacton ballot comes with the same history of low returns. John Stevens, a former Conservative MEP now standing for Rejoin EU, has previously appeared on four parliamentary ballots and is the only Clacton candidate in this group to have beaten Farage in a parliamentary race. His strongest showing came in Buckingham in 2010, where he stood as an independent against then Speaker John Bercow and won 10,331 votes, a 21.4% share, enough to get his deposit back. William Clouston of the Social Democratic Party earned a deposit return in Durham North West in 2001 with 8,193 votes, or 20.9%. Andy Erlam also cleared that hurdle twice, with his strongest run coming in Bexleyheath in 1983, when he received 7,560 votes, or 17.1%.

Farage himself is no stranger to repeated contests. He has stood in seven parliamentary elections since 1994 and won Clacton at the 2024 general election. The unusual ballot in this by-election underscores how Britain’s electoral rules allow fringe parties, independents and serial candidates to keep coming back, even when victory has proved elusive. For American readers, the takeaway is simple: in closely watched elections, the ballot itself can shape the story as much as the frontrunner.