Uxbridge and South Ruislip full candidate list: Who is running in the by-election for Boris Johnson’s old seat?

Following Boris Johnson’s dramatic decision to step down as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, several parties are clamouring to try and take the seat vacated by the former Prime Minister.

Mr Johnson announced on June 9 that he would be stepping down as an MP after receiving the Commons’ Privilege Committee’s findings into whether he knowingly lied to Parliament about the Partygate scandal.

Two other Conservative MPs, Nadine Dorries (Mid-Bedfordshire) and Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) also stood down on a whirlwind day in British politics.

On June 15, Hillingdon Council announced the by-election will take place on July 20, with residents registered to vote to begin receiving their poll cards on June 23.

The Conservatives have managed to successfully hold onto it since its creation in 2010, with Mr Johnson winning by more than 7,000 votes during the 2019 General Election.

A poll published by Lord Ashcroft prior to Mr Johnson’s decision to step down indicated he would have had the votes to retain the constituency. However, more recent polling by Britain Predicts puts Labour ahead by 11 points, suggesting it may be about to change hands for the first time.

Here are the candidates running to take Mr Johnson’s former seat.

Climate Party

Ed Gemmell, an independent councillor for Hazlemere in Buckinghamshire, is running for the Climate Party.

He has said the the by-elections in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, plus Selby and Ainsty, give voters the chance “to show how close we are to climate tipping points in our democracy”.

“They have the chance to vote for extensive climate action and British leadership of the Decarbonisation Revolution. For all our sakes let us hope they rise to the challenge.”

Christian Peoples Alliance

The Christian Peoples Alliance has put forward Enomfon Ntefon as its candidate to contend the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat.

Conservatives

Hillingdon councillor and lifelong resident of the borough Steve Tuckwell has been chosen as the Conservative’s candidate.

Currently the chairman of the major applications planning committee, Cllr Tuckwell said he is “honoured to be selected to represent the area I have served since 2018 and grew up in”.

Cllr Tuckwell continued to say the area “cannot afford a Labour MP who backs Khan’s plans to stop residents living their lives the way they choose and make us pick up the tab for his mistakes, under his ULEZ expansion”.

In addition to halting the ULEZ, Cllr Tuckwell said he would also prioritise delivering the rebuilding of Hillingdon Hospital if elected.

“If Labour win in Uxbridge however – it will send Sadiq Khan a clear message that he can expand his ULEZ and close our police station. A vote for the Conservative Party will tell him he can’t get away with it.”

Count Binface Party

Count Binface, a self-proclaimed “intergalactic space warrior”, contended the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat previously, in 2019, and also fought to be London Mayor in 2021.

Created by comedian Jonathan Harvey, Count Binface has written on his website he is the “only major candidate still standing from the last election”. Key policies listed include fixing flation on croissants, bringing back Ceefax, renaming London Bridge after Phoebe Waller, and tying ministers’ pay to that of nurses for the next 100 years.

“They’ve made a mockery of politics,” he writes. “Now it’s our turn.”

Green Party

Local Green Party candidate Sarah Green has said she wants to “build pressure” and encourage change locally to “save lives in the face of climate chaos and biodiversity loss”.

Key to her campaign is protecting local water supplies from becoming increasingly contaminated, something Ms Green has been campaigning on for years.

“The potential impact on this constituency is huge,” she said. “It’s about time the press and Parliament started hearing about what really matters to the people of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.”

Independent

Independent candidate and local resident Cameron Bell is running under the campaign slogan ‘Vote for More’.

A tennis coach who moved to the area in 1998, Mr Bell said he has been motivated to stand by what he sees as poor structure and incompetence in government.

On his campaign website, he lists five key policies he is running on. Namely; more empowerment to stop the ULEZ, more economic responsibility, more from public services, more affordable housing, and more competence.

“Not only do we need to tackle the challenges we face today, we need to better prepare for future crises,” he writes. “Only then can these events cause less harm to our collective prosperity. I do not want to see the current generation, or future ones, further burdened by debt, suffering and pestilience.

Independent

Kingsley Hamilton, who is also standing as an independent in the by-election, is one of several running positioning himself as an anti-ULEZ candidate.

The founder of the Action Against Unfair ULEZ Facebook Page, Mr Hamilton wrote on Facebook about his campaign: “You can vote for same old same old, and you’ll get same old same old. Or you can rock the establishment, scare them into listening by putting a non political regular citizen with a track record for getting things done.”

Independent

As with Mr Hamilton, Leo Phaure, who is running under the name ‘No ULEZ Leo Phaure’, is standing as an anti-ULEZ candidate in the by-election.

Independent

77 Joseph is also running as an independent candidate running for the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat.

Labour

Labour’s candidate, Cllr Danny Beales, is currently a Camden councillor and member of the borough’s cabinet.

Born in Hillingdon Hospital in 1988, Cllr Beales grew up in South Ruislip and Ruislip Manor.

On his campaign website, he describes how he was raised by a single parent, and it was after experiencing homelessness as a teenager that he joined the Labour Party.

“Losing our home, when I was 15, forced my mother and I to leave the area – but Ruislip is where my roots are and where much of my wider family still lives,” he writes.

Cllr Beales continues: “I believe everyone has a right to a decent home. No one should not be able to afford to eat or heat their home. More and more families are now struggling because of the Conservative government’s economic mismanagement over the last 13 years. Now we need change.”

He adds some of his priorities if he is to be elected include working for a new hospital, improving public services, growing the local economy, and getting more police on the streets.

Let London Live

Well-known anti-vaccine and anti-ULEZ campaigner Piers Corbyn is standing as a Let London Live candidate at the by-election.

On Twitter, Mr Corbyn has described himself as “the one fearless resister”, adding: “Imagine him in Parliament!”

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats, who are eyeing up the seat as a potential win despite coming in third-place in 2019, have selected Blaise Baquiche as their candidate.

A former policy adviser to the Conservative Party in the European Parliament, Mr Baquiche left the party to become a Lib Dem campaigner in 201.

He said in a video launching his campaign that he is running because he is “angry” at Mr Johnson’s actions during lockdowns, during which his own father died.

“This isn’t about party political games,” he continues. “This is about competence. Competence in office, competence with the economy, and competence for you, the residents of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, who I know feel like you haven’t had an MP for the past seven years.”

Monster Raving Loony Party

The Monster Raving Loony Party have put forward their current leader, Howling Hope, to contest the seat in July.

While no particular set of policies appear to have announced for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the party’s ‘manicfesto’ includes proposals to reduce inflation by giving away free pins, and make trains safer by fitting them all with cushions on the front.

Reclaim Party

Former actor and Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox has announced he will be running for the seat, in a mutual cooperation agreement with the Reform UK Party.

In a statement, Mr Fox said: “The Reclaim Party and Reform UK offer the only genuine conservative alternative to the electorate, seeking for a smaller state, lower taxes, control of our borders and a full debate over net zero and the contentious ideologies being forced onto our children in schools.”

The agreement will involve Dave Holland, of Reform UK, standing in Ms Dorries’ Mid-Bedfordshire seat.

Rejoin EU

Rejoin EU candidate and party leader Richard Hewison has said he has two key policies ahead of the by-election; reversing Brexit, and prosecuting Boris Johnson “to the fullest extent of the law”.

In a comment to the London Economic, he said: “Now that parliament has officially found Johnson to be a liar, conman and general ne’er do well, it’s important that the architect of the project that has caused the British people’s current financial suffering (ie Brexit) is held fully accountable for the damage he has done to the UK.”

Social Democratic Party

Local resident and Gulf War veteran Steve Gardner has been announced as the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate for the seat.

Key policies on which Mr Gardner will be campaigning on include fighting the ULEZ expansion, which he describes as a “stealth tax”, reducing crime, and increasing affordable housing.

Commenting on his decision to run, Mr Gardner said: “Politicians should work for the people. It’s as simple as that. I believe the UK isn’t broken but the system is.

“I’m standing for the SDP because we hold values that I believe the British people are looking for from their next government — a sound economy, a socially fair society and safe communities.”

UKIP

UKIP has chosen its deputy leader and GB News broadcaster Rebecca Jane as its candidate for the by-election.

According to the party’s Twitter page, Ms Jane will be running on five policies; stopping the ULEZ, scrapping elected mayors, removing dishonest politicians, fixing GP appointments, and scrapping HS2.

On why she is running, Ms Jane said: “All parties in the election, except UKIP, have no backbone. We’re the party who speak cold, hard truth. We’re the only party that will come in and truly shake up the mainstream system.”