The interesting opponents we face in the Rochester & Strood by-election

Readers, I thought this would not be out until Tuesday 28th, but the statement of persons nominated for the Rochester & Strood by-election was released yesterday.

Here are the 12 opponents our Green Party candidate, Clive Gregory, will have to face:

Mike Barker (Independent, asked Respect MP George Galloway if he could stand as a Respect candidate, but he got no reply)

Christopher Chalis (Independent, focused on small business issues)

Hairy Knorm Davidson (OMRLP, has stood as OMRLP candidate in Faversham & Mid Kent in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010)

Jayda Fransen (Britain First)

Stephen Goldsborough (Independent, standing on Christian platform)

Geoff Juby (Liberal Democrat, contested Medway in 2001 and 2005 and this seat in 2010, which replaced Medway following boundary changes)

Naushabah Khan (Labour)

Nick Long (People Before Profit, stood for Lewisham West in 2001 as an independent socialist and Lewisham West in 2005 for the Green Party)

Dave Osborn (Patriotic Socialist Party, once announced on Facebook that he would stand in Clacton but in the end he did not do so)

Mark Reckless (UKIP, formerly Conservative of course. His background of Marlborough School and Oxford University is as elitist as Douglas Carswell's)

Charlotte Rose (Independent, sex workers' rights campaigner who stood in Clacton earlier this year)

Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative, Medway councillor and unusually for a Conservative, pro-Palestine)

I honestly do not know how this by-election will turn out with this long and colourful line-up of candidates....but I hope we at least beat the Liberal Democrats, even with one of our former colleagues on our tail.

Alan.

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