Farage to make statement this afternoon …

[AgitaAndroid]

Fingers crossed.

To prove he will be liked no matter what rules he breaks.
Emotion above reason is the order of the day.

Lots of panic-stricken messaging from Farage-friends that the other parties shouldn't contest the by-election. For... reasons.

Ah but this way if he wins he gets to claim to be the people’s champion, and if he loses he gets to call it all a fix - just like his hero, DJT.

Can Rory Stewart be rehydrated? Unfortunately he can't, I've already chosen him to stand as mayor for my local combined authority.

He has pre-empted the parliamentary investigation forcing a by-election.

Its a very safe seat and the investigation will be dropped with the by election whether or not he gets elected.

Anyone got copies of Erskine May???🙏🏻

He can't just "stand down" he has to get permission.

So if he's already announced he'll stand again, surely that permission can be refused?

straws, clutching

When he resigns, apparently the problem about the £5million donation will cease to exist 🤷‍♀️

The parliamentary commissioner of standards page on procedures and protocol appears to have crashed!

It's genius it will take all the attention away from the undemocratic appointment of the king of the north. Although part of me thinks it would be great if Lord Buckethead wins.

Or he gets to leave with dignity by saying he accepts the people's voice.

Win or lose he gets to take back control of the narrative, instead of looking like he is the one being harassed out of office.

Its a clever move.

Or Tobias Elwood

Rory Stewart has become extremely pompous in recent years

Hm. What has he actually done for Clacton? I notice his bid was all about self justification and how everyone else was wrong. But very light on what he does as an MP.

It won't, no.

If he gets re-elected the investigation definitely revives.
If he doesn't get re-elected, the commissioner can still decide it's appropriate to resume the investigation.

Disappointing …

I had hoped to be hearing less from him.

The poor(er) fuckers in his constituency who will blindly put their "X" against his name again.

Not sure if a LA can claim back funding from central Govt?

We need some new good laws re: by elections, and a length of time before you can stand again, become PM. The people of this country are being treated very shabbily by political posturing.

So he may well get reelected, the parliamentary inquiry happens and finds he has broken the rules, there then has to be another by election??

I think Clacton needs a stonking good independent candidate that all of the other parties row in behind.

No doubt Restore will target this seat heavily as well. But all of the mainstream parties need to set aside their differences in this moment and unite against the far right.

Get Farage out.

Of course he can stand down. Reference the recent Kingmakerfield stitchup. I hear the MP that stood down has got a highly paid job for the boys in Burnhams team.

And if you have that sort of investigation hanging over you, you shouldn't be able to stand as a candidate,

Yep. It’s very tactical, and just shows how manipulative he is.

Is he still going on? If I watch it later when should I skip to?

Cannot stand him though should preface this by saying I can't stand any of them. Conservative, Labour, Libdems, Reform etc.

Once they start the regular visits to the Houses of Parliment, you can bet their heads get turned and they stop thinking what's best for us, and start thinking of their own pockets. Every. Single. One.

Viva la revolución!

Yes, I was annoyed to read that Josh Simons is tipped to be one of Burnham's top advisors.

To be fair I assume he had been promised a peerage to make way for the king.

I’m in sure about that, if the complaint is outstanding I reckon Parliament will have the power to resolve it. I don’t think it disappears because of a by election