Laurence Fox's London Mayor campaign ruined by hilarious error

We’ve all been guilty of leaving something to the last minute at some point in our lives, but in the case of Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox, it’s emerged he decided to submit incomplete paperwork for the London mayoral elections just before the deadline, and is now upset that he hasn’t been allowed to stand on 2 May.

In a post to Twitter/X on Wednesday night – since deleted – the former actor shared an email from a City Hall official in which it was revealed Fox had failed to submit the required nominations before the cut-off point, and fumed that the whole situation was a “sham” the result of “political corruption”.

He fumed: “We checked, double-checked and then triple-checked our nominations, because we knew they would try this.

“The team made sure that every box was ticked, every t crossed an every i dotted.

“We will appeal this decision.”

It’s understood that Fox cannot, in fact, appeal this decision.

As per the website for London Elects (that’s the independent body, part of the Greater London Authority, which oversees the Mayor of London and London Assembly elections), those who wish to stand for mayor need, amongst other requirements such as a £10,000 deposit, to submit a total of 330 signatures from those on the electoral register in London backing their candidacy.

Of those 330 backers, 320 of these must comprise 10 supporters in each of the 32 London boroughs, with the final 10 coming from the City of London.

The email in Fox’s deleted tweet stated two London boroughs did not reach the 10 supporter threshold, while three backers from other boroughs “could not be reconciled to voter register records”.

It added Fox would be refunded a £5,000 overpayment and the £20,000 fee and deposit for the mayoral nomination, but that his nomination to stand for election as a London-wide assembly member was still valid.

Nevertheless, Fox’s apparent administrative failure has been met with ridicule online:

In a statement, London Elects said it first met with the Reclaim Party on Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the deadline.

“At this time, the paperwork was incomplete.

“Mr Fox’s representatives were advised to ensure that completed forms were submitted well before the Wednesday 4pm statutory deadline. The paperwork was submitted very shortly before 4pm.

“Upon inspection, the nomination forms contained errors which – the deadline having passed – were too late for Mr Fox’s team to correct.

“The conclusion of London Elects was that the requirements of the nomination process were not completed by the deadline.

“The Greater London Returning Officer is bound by electoral law and has no ability to allow anything other than fully compliant nominations, submitted by the deadline, to stand,” it said.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Fox has suffered political embarrassment, as when he actually managed to get the forms right and in on time back in 2021’s London mayoral election, he received just over 47,600 votes, finishing sixth with 1.9 per cent of the vote and losing his £10,000 deposit.

Even YouTuber Niko Omilana managed to get more votes than him, coming in fifth with more than 49,600 votes.

Fox also failed to get elected in Boris Johnson’s former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in last year’s by-election, finishing fourth with just 714 votes (winner Steve Tuckwell of the Conservatives, for comparison, raked in 13,965 votes).

This time around, Fox continues to insist the nomination papers for each borough were “oversubscribed and double-checked”, and said he has written to London Elects “repeatedly” to find out the details of the invalid nominees and why they are ineligible.

Count Binface managed it, though, and announced his official candidacy for the Mayor of London in the best way possible: via Ceefax.

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