Zia Yusuf has claimed that the boycott of a Clacton by-election by Labour, Tories, Greens, and LibDems is only because they know they would lose to Farage. He told BBC Breakfast:
“The legitimacy of those elections is not determined by which parties coordinate together to not stand candidates. It is very much down to the people of Clacton to make a determination. And I’m confident that they will return Nigel Farage to the House of Commons.
Why have Labour and the Tories decided not to stand? And the second question would be if they thought for a moment they had a chance of unseating the man who has been a thorn in their side for decades, the man whose political party has led 350 national opinion polls in a row. If they had a chance, if they thought they had a chance of unseating Nigel Farage, they would field a candidate. And this is what’s so extraordinary about this endless witch hunt.”
As it currently stands Nigel Farage will be versus ironic candidate Count Binface. Reform is due to move the writ today. Will Reeves grant the by-election in good time by appointing Farage out of the Commons?
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”