With court cases, a party defection and all his campaigning efforts, it’s been a busy few months for Andrew Bridgen. This might explain why he hasn’t had the chance to check on his constituency post box, which is clearly overflowing with messages. No doubt Andrew would say it’s all his anti-vax fan mail…

Guido isn’t so sure. A local co-conspirator got in touch to share the image, expressing concern for Andrew’s constituents, as his Br-igeonhole has been filled for weeks. He claims the Leicestershire MP has “not stepped foot in there [the office] since April this year”. There is another explanation. Now he’s out of the Tory party, perhaps Andrew has just found somewhere else to put all those letters of no confidence…

UPDATE: Bridgen gets in touch to say it is the fault of the local Conservative association, and someone on the team has deliberately set him up: “The Conservative association office is in the same building… Spence has been paid by the taxpayer since April till this week but he clearly has not been collecting the post or done any other work.

Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox has announced he’s standing in the upcoming by-election for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, following Boris’s resignation on Friday. Reform UK’s leader Richard Tice has agreed his party will not stand their own candidate in a bid to maximise Fox’s chances. Chances which, it’s fair to say, are pretty slim…

In a statement today, Fox said:

“The main political parties are not fit for purpose. We have uncontrolled immigration putting pressure on an already over stretched NHS, which is one of the poorest performing health services in the developed world. Labour and Conservative are offering the same policies and are largely indistinguishable… Britain deserves better. Reclaim seeks to represent the best interests of British people, Reclaim is motivated by common sense. Reclaim is interested in a prosperous future for our children.”

If elected, Fox would become the second MP to sit for the Reclaim Party, after Andrew Bridgen’s defection last month. Although realistically all this will do is siphon protest votes off the Tory candidate. Labour must be happy…

Andrew Bridgen is making the most of his newfound party affiliation by splashing Jeremy Hosking’s hard-earned cash on shiny new leaflets. In addition to making North West Leicestershire a better place to live, Bridgen boasts about bringing “light to MRNA vaccine harms” and leading parliamentary opposition to “the WHO pandemic treaty”. Guido isn’t so convinced that these achievements are sure-fire vote-winners…

Of course, Bridgen is campaigning for his current seat of North West Leicestershire – as his literature makes clear. This hasn’t stopped hundreds of the leaflets being sent out to the neighbouring seat of South Derbyshire…

UPDATE: Bridgen fesses up to his mistake. He admits:

“We delivered my leaflet by postcode so there will be a bit of overlap with neighbouring constituencies. However, we have had considerable support from outside the constituency.”

You just can’t spread the good word far enough…

A year on from food writer Jack Monroe’s venomous Twitter tirade that promised to enlist libel lawyers against Lee Anderson, Martin Daubney and anyone else caught in the firing line, and it’s all gone quiet on the lawsuit front. It seems the 12 month statute of limitations window in which Monroe could sue has swung shut. Perhaps Monroe saw it as a recipe for disaster…

Lee Anderson awoke in high spirits, telling Guido:

“After a long year of sleepless nights worrying about the threat of legal action it appears I can finally move on and get my life back. Freedom of speech is a bedrock of our society and people from all walks of life should be allowed to express their own opinions without fear of being dragged through the courts.”

Monroe’s cries of libel came in response to a Reclaim Party interview in which Martin Daubney mused that Monroe “probably earns more than the Prime Minister”, while Lee Anderson riposted Monroe’s jab of “rich, white privileged male” by comparing his own work to help the people of Ashfield with Monroe’s strategy of “taking money off some of the most vulnerable in society.” Who will be left eating their words?

Since then, Monroe has blown a gasket, referring to Lee as a “weaselly bullying turncoat, fundamentally dishonest, libellous, and seemingly f****** obsessed with me,” while excitedly touting front row seats to the largest libel lawsuit since her last libel lawsuit against Katie Hopkins:

“Lee Anderson making outrageous, libellous statements is he? And Martin Daubney encouraging and promoting them. Excellent. @mlewislawyer – got a job for you pal.”

Egged on by her followers, Monroe lauded the “very clear case of outright libel” before promising the accused “your papers will be in the post”, telling a follower that the accused were “being served legal letters” and announcing “gloves off. Lawyer instructed… Daubney, Anderson, Fox and co are playing a very expensive game of chicken.” Don’t count your chickens, eh?

Now that the window to serve papers has passed, Daubney observed that “Jack’s been unusually quiet” as he confirmed “zero contact” from the libel trigger finger Monroe and turned attention to the activist’s whip-round for legal fees, imploring the food writer to “answer questions about the missing funds for her non-existent legal case.” Monroe cryptically replied that the funds are “not missing: they’re exactly where they’ve always been, and I’m doing exactly what I said I’d do with it.” Perhaps there is a sting in the tall tail? 

With today’s announcement of Andrew Bridgen’s defection to Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party, Guido took the opportunity to ask whether more might follow. Although Laurence demurred, Andrew Bridgen did hint at more potential defections:

“There are a lot of Conservative MPs who, for various reasons, have lost the whip or been deselected. I would ask you to take a look at the number of Conservative MPs that voted against plan B in December of 2021 and see what number of those are no longer in the party or have lost the whip or been deselected. That’s quite telling.”

Guido has listened to Bridgen’s advice and taken a look at the suspended Tories who voted against Plan B. It’s hardly an illustrious list:

• David Warburton

• Julian Knight

• Rob Roberts

• Scott Benton

There were 99 Conservatives in total voting against the measures, so there’s a wide pool of talent for Reclaim to target. The four above will have the least to lose by jumping ship…

Whilst news of Reclaim’s big announcement was already out ahead of today’s press conference, Andrew Bridgen did make one surprise revelation towards the end of proceedings. He informed the audience:

“I have submitted a defamation claim to the Royal Court of Justice against one Matthew Hancock MP. The basis of my claim is that Mr Hancock’s accusation of antisemitism against me is a false slur to deliberately try and shutdown valid concerns raised by me on behalf of my constituents and thousands of others around the world about the safety and efficacy of experimental Covid 19 injections.” 

Popcorn at the ready…

UPDATE: Matt Hancock isn’t backing down. His spokesperson said:

“Matt will defend this absurd action, which is a pathetic publicity stunt. The claim has no credible basis and when Matt wins the case, he will also seek to recover all costs. Vaccines save lives, and Matt will always defend science and progress against unfounded conspiracy theories that put peoples’ health at risk.”