2011 Bexhill and Battle by-election

```
This article is written in the 'future' (2023) and thus does not reflect the state of affairs in the present day, 1954. It does however represent a premonition of what is to come.

```

A by-election for the British Common Assembly constituency of Bexhill and Battle was held on 23 June 2011, following the death of its incumbent MCA Nigel Farage the previous month. Farage had been killed in an aircraft accident on the morning of May 26th, the date of the 2011 British general election, and election officials had consequently been unable to remove his name from ballot papers in time, leading to his posthumous election to the Common Assembly. An election was immediately called for 28 days later; it remains notable for what is seen as an exceptionally bitter campaign, owing to the seat's unusual nature as a four-way marginal and the wider context of its timing immediately after the election of a second hung parliament.

## Background

### Constituency

Bexhill and Battle lies in East Sussex. It is predominantly rural, with its largest population centre being the seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea. Primarily its population is retired and socially conservative, reflected in the fact that it has returned a Millennium Party candidate in every election since the Counterrevolution. However, the seat has never been considered safe, and in 2009 it became a three-way marginal, owing to the relatively even split of the right-wing vote between the Millennium Party and the New Union Party. Labour's share of the vote consistently grew in every election, driven largely by a significant migrant population in Bexhill, part of the United Democrat government's migrant settlement policy.

### Trigger

On the morning of 26 May 2011, the date of the 2011 British general election, incumbent MCA Nigel Farage was travelling in a three-seater SIAI-Marchetti SM.1019 when it crashed in Essex. Initial reports suggested that whilst both the pilot and the other passenger, Millennium Party treasurer Stuart Wheeler, had been killed, Farage had sustained only non-life-threatening injuries. In fact it was Wheeler who had survived; Farage, it is thought, died immediately in the crash, caused when an election banner being towed by the aircraft ensnared the tail of the plane, causing it to plunge downward.

The news, when it eventually broke around lunchtime, was met with shock and disbelief. Actually reporting what had occurred was complicated by strict broadcasting restrictions applying to polling day, meaning that at least initially major news outlets refrained from explicitly identifying Farage as a senior member of the Millennium Party, causing considerable confusion. His position as the clear frontrunner for leadership of the party meant that his death left the future of the Millennium Party uncertain, especially following incumbent leader David Davis's resignation after the loss of his own seat, Haltemprice and Howden, to the New Union Party. When his death had been confirmed, a significant amount of votes in his constituency had already been cast, meaning it was impossible to withdraw Farage's candidacy from ballot papers -- the consequences of this became apparent when the votes were counted, with Farage in narrow first place with 30% of the vote. He therefore became the first and to date only candidate elected to the Common Assembly posthumously.

There was no specific legislation providing a contingency for the election of a dead candidate, and the Electoral Authority defaulted to regular by-election procedure. A vote was scheduled for four weeks after the election, June 23rd.

## Campaign

### Candidate selection

Though there were initially some calls for the other major parties to stand aside for the Millennium Party candidate, these quickly lost traction once the Labour Party announced on May 29th that it would be contesting the by-election. The New Union Party and the United Democrats both announced their candidacies for the seat soon after; the consensus amongst political observers was that both parties saw the by-election as an opportunity to show strength - by the United Democrats as a chance to reinforce the narrative of a major electoral comeback following their successes in the GE, and by the NU to seize a victory in the wake of losing 21 seats in their own snap election. Bexhill and Battle's exceptional nature as a four-way marginal (just nine points separated the first and last candidates) meant that each major party regarded the by-election as a potential victory.

The Electoral Authority on June 2nd announced that, owing to the extraordinary circumstances of the by-election, candidates who had not previously stood in the GE would be blocked from standing. In addition, parties would be banned from putting forward a different candidate, with the obvious exception of the Millennium Party. Though this decision was met with some opposition, notably from the British Loyalist League who had been intending to contest the by-election, it was supported by all four of the major parties.

#### Controversy over the Millennium Party candidate hustings

The extremely short timeframe for selecting a new Millennium Party candidate, with just 12 days between the opening of nominations and the final shortlist vote, meant that from the beginning the entire process was characterised by chaos. The contest's nature as the means for a near-immediate return to the Common Assembly meant that dozens of former Millennium MCAs who had lost their seats in the 2011 election descended upon the constituency, in scenes bordering on farce. The prospect that David Davis, who had led the party until the loss of his seat in the GE, might seek the nomination briefly excited pundits, but was met with immediate outrage by grassroots supporters. When Davis surfaced in Bexhill on June 1st, the day before nominations closed, he was reportedly shocked at the level of vitriol directed to the man who had been Deputy Minister-President and leader of the party only a week ago, even being spat on whilst canvassing Bexhill high street. The next day, the local Millennium Party Supporters Association released a statement savaging Davis's actions; "The idea that Mr Davis believes he can just cruise into the constituency of his strongest political rival, whose body is not yet cold, and assume the nomination is so grossly vulgar as to cause genuine upset in our membership, and raise serious doubts as to our future in the Party". Davis promptly abandoned his attempts to seek the seat's nomination.

A Savanta ComRes snap poll on June 1st, the only one conducted for the contest, found the strongest level of support was for Carl Maynard, the Millennium leader of the local district council. As the only local candidate amidst a sea of little-known or unpopular outside contenders, many quickly pronounced him the clear frontrunner for the Millennium Party candidacy. it came as a huge shock, then, that when the longlist was announced on June 4th Maynard's name was not amongst them. It quickly emerged that the clerk charged by Maynard's office with delivering his nomination paperwork to the local Association had lost them on the morning the nominations deadline closed, and subsequently lied to Maynard about it. Adding to the ridiculousness of the affair, Maynard's office accused "outside elements" of having stolen the papers to block his nomination, a claim that seemed to totally discredit the councillor when the paperwork was found, reportedly in the backseat pocket of the clerk's girlfriend's car.