Why candidates dress up and run in major UK elections

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Andy Burnham – a man who hopes to be the next prime minister – stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a man in a fox costume and an “intergalactic space warrior” with a bin for a face when he was announced as the winner of the Makerfield by-election.

These costumed characters barely registered as unusual for members of the public and supporters, as Count Binface, the fox and another, Howling Laud Hope, all shook hands with Labour’s Burnham before he gave his victory speech.

Eccentric scenes like this are a common sight over the years in British politics, and candidates are often motivated to run for a variety of different reasons, but their satirical stances often give more serious messages a moment of attention – and can even influence future laws.

Rob Pownall spends most of his time running his advocacy organisation Protect the Wild, which advocates for British wildlife, but in recent weeks he ran for the Makerfield seat dressed as a fox.

“I think it was a brilliant display of British democracy in action,” Pownall told the BBC, as he sees people running in costumes as a a part of Britain’s “unique eccentric energy”.

It was not Pownall’s first time running as a candidate, in May he dressed as a giant gannet while running as a candidate for Scottish Parliament to call for the end of the Guga hunt, which is a centuries old tradition to hunt the bird.

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His motivation was to “shine a light on issues that don’t get the headlines” and as he shook Burnham’s hand, Pownall took the opportunity to speak about his advocacy to better protect British wildlife.

“I urged him if he is to become prime minister to actually do something to protect animals, whether to finally end fox hunting for good or committing to a complete end to the Badger cull.”

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Another character that has regularly appeared up against well-known politicians including former prime ministers Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, is Count Binface.

He has become an expected part of elections, with a manifesto for Makerfield published on his website including policies to be “the UK’s entrant at Eurovision 2027” and “wifi on trains that works. Also trains that work”.

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Speaking to Sky News, he said reasons for running included to “replace the traffic lights on Liverpool road”, “price cap Wigan kebabs at £2” and “build at least one affordable house”.

“I believe elected mayors should serve out their terms before they’re eligible to stand for parliament,” was another point raised by Count Binface.

The BBC has contacted him for comment.

Currently it costs £500 to run as a candidate for elections. Those who poll above 5% of the total valid votes gets that sum returned.

Another costumed character running for Makerfield was the Alan “Howling Laud” Hope, the leader of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and has played a key role in creating the tradition of running for election in a costume for more than 40 years.

Hope has previously run against former prime ministers David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Theresa May, and told the BBC he has run at least 38 times.

The party has put up more than 200 candidates over the years.

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The party was formed in 1982 and founded by Hope and the late David Sutch – also known as “The Screaming Lord Sutch”.

Sutch, who was also a rock ‘n’ roll musician, first ran in 1963 in the Stratford by-election and also ran against former prime minister Harold Wilson in the 1966 election.

He ran for a total of 41 parliamentary seats.

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While the party kicks members out if they stand a chance of winning an election, certain policies it has campaigned on since it formed in 1983 have become law.

For example, throughout the 1980s the party campaigned for pubs to remain open during the day, rather than shutting in the afternoons, which came into force in 2005.

The party also called for the reduction of the voting age to 16 since it began, and now 16 and 17-year-olds can vote in certain elections in Scotland and Wales.

Labour also introduced a bill in February to lower the voting age to 16 for all UK citizens.

In 1985 the Conservative government, then led by Margaret Thatcher who Sutch also ran against, introduced laws that candidates who poll less than 5% of the total valid votes will lose their deposit.

However, a year later, then-home office minister David Mellor conceded the policy had not worked, as candidates including Sutch ran in the 1986 Fulham by-election in costume.

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“[The election] took place against a backdrop of a lot of people dressed like idiots, behaving like idiots and waving idiotic slogans”.

“I think we probably are just going to have to live with this,” he told the BBC at the time.