Thanks to the people who tweeted me about Britain's most esoteric by-election today.
It is an election to fill a vacancy for a hereditary peer to sit on the crossbenches in the Lords. There is an electorate of 30 and 17 candidates.
One of the candidates is the Duke of Rutland. As his candidature statement (seen above) mentions his membership of Ukip, he would make a funny kind of crossbencher.
Lord Bonkers tells me he went to the bookies today and was offered very long odds on the Duke.
Its a mad world, and the Duke does seem an odd candidate for a cross bencher, in this very odd election. However, however odd he seems to us, doesn't he have as much right as anyone other eleigible person to put his name forward? Hopefully even in this tiny electorate, most voters will recognise the weakness of his case. But, at least he is taking part in a democratic process.
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