An Intergalactic Space Lord, Sesame Street’s Elmo and a Flying Brick

The 2024 General Election in the UK

11 July, 2024

By Kathleen Starck

If you think British elections are boring – think again. Or does your country feature general election candidates such as “Count Binface” from the Monster Raving Loony Party, a self-described intergalactic space lord, who literally wears a metal bin over his head and whose manifesto pledges to cap the price of croissants and ban noisy snacks from cinemas? Or Elmo from Sesame Street? Or candidates from the Psychedelic Movement Party pledging to ignore the law and open 24-hour cannabis cafes? Or the world’s first artificial intelligence lawmaker? Or “Howling ‘Laud’ Hope”? Or “Baron Von Thunderclap”? Or “Earl Elvis of East Anglia”? Or even a pub in west London, entered by its owner for publicity?

Well, the British General Election on 4 July 2024 did. And has done so for decades. According to Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Queen Mary University, this can be traced back to over 100 years ago, due to the “openness to the British political system.” All it takes is British, Irish or certain Commonwealth countries’ citizenship, a 500 GBP deposit and handing in the correct forms by the end of the deadline.

Because of this openness, there is a long-standing tradition of satirical and comedy candidates, often in seats where they are up against high-profile candidates of established parties. Which means that when these candidates are on stage for the count of their votes, so are the satirical candidates. Thus, this year, the newly elected prime Minister, Keir Starmer, whose Labour party won the absolute majority, was photographed shaking hands with Elmo and standing next to “Nick the Incredible Flying Brick”. Elsewhere, now former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative Party lost the election, had YouTuber Niko Omilana standing behind him, holding up a sign with a huge “L” on it. The Telegraph asks whether this stood for “Learner” or “Looser” or “Loss”, but concludes that all three would have been apt. Another prominent conservative politician, Jacob Rees Mogg, often criticised for his affected or arrogant upper-class demeaner, had to listen to his loosing results while standing next to “Barmy Brunch”, a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate, who wore a baked-bean balaclava.

While many of the manifestos of the satirical candidates are exactly that, satirical, the candidates and their programmes also fulfil another function – that of celebrating British democracy. The Washington Post quotes Count Binface, played by 44-year-old comedian Jon Harvey, as proof that these candidates have the effect of somewhat diminishing politics’ elitism, working as “a real leveler — and it’s something that makes British democracy particularly wonderful and unique.”

Political scientist Andy Mycock from the University of Leeds suggests the joke candidate’s popularity is related the public’s feeling that the distance between politics and ordinary people is increasing. So the satirical candidates satirise the political elites and sometimes are making quite serious points about the political system and its flaws. As an example, Mycock cites Count Binface’s manifesto pledge of “national service for all ex-prime ministers” as a comment on “the quality of policy making” and “the state of the country” (just after calling the election, then PM Rishi Sunak pledged to reintroduce national service for 18-year olds).

The tradition of the joke candidates also ties in with a larger tradition of British politicians self-caricaturing. Thus, Politico quotes Steve Gimbel, professor of philosophy at Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg College, who has published on humour and comedy, confirming that British politics is funnier than that of other countries. The Telegraph comments “No electoral system understands the potential, within all that life-changing seriousness, for the odd giggle.”

This is reaffirmed by comedy podcast host Matt Forde, who claims that many campaign performances by British politicians aim at diminishing the discrepancy between the electorate and the pompousness of British politics, i.e. the physical surroundings in the Commons and Lords, the manner of speaking, the Parliamentary rules and traditions. For him, this is clearly related to social class. “There’s an element of the class system. These are people who genuinely believe they’re better than us, and it turns out they’re fucking idiots.” The Washington Post sums this up as follows: “It’s common for top British politicians to be caught in embarrassing, farcical situations — conveniently in front of the cameras” because politicians have to prove that they are “normal people”. According to the Washington Post, the master of this “slapstick politics” was former prime minister Boris Johnson, “who has deliberately driven a digger through a fake wall labelled “gridlock” during an election campaign” and “somehow managed to turn getting stuck on a zip line during the 2012 London Olympics into a successful PR moment”.

So, this year, of course, there are photographs of Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak drawing “perfect pints”, a common rite of political passage. Sunak also played football when he visited Chesham United Football Club and was ignored by a herd of sheep when he visited a farm. Starmer, on the other hand, let voters know in an interview that he learned to play the violin together with Norman Cook, former Housemartins bassist and later DJ Fatboy Slim.

This year’s politician who would win the prize for “most bizarre campaign”, if it existed, would have to be Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats. He let himself be interviewed while on a paddle board and repeatedly fell off, one time reputedly on purpose. We saw him bungee jumping, giving an interview while on a fairground teacup ride, riding a water slide, participating in a Zumba class and drumming out “We will rock you” on an exercise ball in a care home. All perfectly normal.

Results of the 2024 General Election:

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10009/

https://www.bbc.com/news/election/2024/uk/results

Politico on Funny British politics:

https://www.politico.eu/article/british-politics-funny-humour-rishi-sunak-speech-labour/

The Guardian on 2024 election memes

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/another-one-bites-the-dust-the-best-uk-election-memes

The Washington Post on Joke Candidates:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/03/uk-general-election-joke-guide/

The Telegraph on funny pictures of the 2024 election:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/05/eight-pictures-british-election-night-2024/

Reuters on Joke Candidates: