Chris Mason: Farage attempts to seize back the agenda after finance row
The reform, I am told, aims to proceed with the by-election as soon as possible.
They will begin the parliamentary formalities immediately.
This will mean Farage is given a Royal appointment which prevents him from becoming an MP – either Royal Commissioner and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds or Royal Commissioner and Bailiff of Northstead Manor.
Once this happens and the seat of Clacton becomes vacant, the writ can be moved to the House of Commons to trigger a by-election while Parliament is still sitting and before the summer recess begins next weekend.
This will likely mean a by-election at some point next month; just as the new government led by Andy Burnham is likely to come into power.
The big question now is how the opponents of the Reformation will react.
Do they nominate candidates or not?
Restore Britain, led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, has already said this will not go ahead.
Reform is provoking Labor to do this, claiming this will be Burnham’s first big test.
But Team Burnham describes it as a “trick” and the Prime Minister called it a “desperate stunt” at the NATO Summit in Ankara.
And in these cases, there is precedent for rivals not to nominate candidates and claim that they would not support them by participating in what they see as a publicity stunt.
In 2008 Conservative MP David Davis resigned his seat for Haltemprice and Howden as part of a campaign on civil liberties. Neither Labor nor the Liberal Democrats opposed him.
In the meantime, it is worth remembering that this by-election does not end the Standards Commissioner’s ongoing investigation; This investigation, as I mentioned earlier, could eventually lead to what is known as a recall petition and, yes, a byelection.
This has led some in Parliament to envision a scenario in which Nigel Farage would contest and win one by-election, only to face another.
This can only happen if Parliament concludes that this penalty is appropriate and, importantly, if 10% of those on the electoral roll in Clacton sign a recall petition demanding the penalty.
In this scenario, people there may have enough ballot boxes and boxes left.
Let’s see.
What Reformation is effectively trying to say is that we are ahead of you and capturing the spotlight and agenda.
It looks like we’re facing a split-screen summer: a new prime minister in Andy Burnham on one side, and his great political rival Nigel Farage on the other.
