How Australian challenge to Nigel Farage precipitated record UK by-election candidates

18:00 Wed, 22 Jul 2026

On the morning of Friday, 17 July 2026, I published a blog post announcing my nomination in the Clacton-on-Sea by-election. The blog post finished with a challenge hinting at a previous record set by rivaly between an English athlete and an Australian challenger:

Call for Nigel Farage, champion of the imperial system of weights and measures, to run a mile against an Australian candidate

Politicians frequently talk about running for election. The public is fed up with this talk. If you say you want to run and if you are going to force the council staff to change their summer holiday plans and organise an election at huge public expense then you need to run when you say you want to run.

In other words, dust off your trainers.

The story of the four-minute-mile was closely intertwined with the enthusiasm for an Anglo-Australian grudge match.

Farage has refused to debate other candidates so I'm calling for him to prove his love for the mile with me.

There you have it, with the text in bold, I've summoned the ghosts of Roger Bannister and John Landy. And they couldn't resist the opportunity to run again too.

Daniel Pocock, athletics, Walthamstow, 1500 meters

Here they are both beating the four-minute mile threshold together at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. Bannister got there first but we remember them together.

Roger Bannister, John Landy, Vancouver, four-minute mile

Is Nigel Farage willing to debate Daniel Pocock or any other candidate in the Clacton by-election or is he in hiding?

The nomination process closed at 16:00 on Friday. A few hours later, the returning officer announced his office had received 34 valid nominations. That is a new UK record for the number of candidates contesting a by-election.

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