Gavin Grey: UK correspondent speaks ahead of Clacton byelection

The Clacton byelection is getting underway, and it's shaping up to be a 'bizarre' event.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage stepped down as MP of Clacton and immediately stood for re-election after a slew of allegations of financial misconduct.

None of the other major parties have candidates running, so Farage's opponents include Count Binface, actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox, and three candidates from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey explained further. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Devin Gray UK correspondence with us Ello Gevin hither had
that right. So this is really ramping up. The coppers
are getting together and sending a letter to Andy, are they?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yes? Andy Burnham, the honeymoon period well and truly over
for him, and this is an issue he can't seem
to get away from. So under the previous government back
too and a bitch years ago, the prisons were we
were told filling up now a secure starmer. Andy Burnham's
predecessor started an early release program, releasing prisoners just one

(00:29):
third of their way through their sentence except the most
very most serious of crimes. Well all this is coming
back to haunt Andy Burnham now because the release early
release of two men who were involved in the killing
of a twenty eight year old newly married police officer
are due to be released in January. Andy Burnham now
saying he is confident that the law can be changed

(00:51):
so that they will be kept inside, and now fifty
of the UK's most senior police officers urging him in
an open letter to pursue every legal option to prevent
their early release. They're saying that the morale and that
the damage to people in the armed in the police
and other services of the emergency services are going to

(01:13):
be just so despondent if these two serve only a
handful of years for their part in the killing of
this police officer in twenty twenty, which at the time
was truly shocking. And it really didn't help when the
pair as they were being taken to prison, was seen
smiling and waving as it were to the waiting photographers outside.
So almost a million now also signing a petition, Heather

(01:37):
saying to the Prime Minister, you cannot release this pair early.
And the mother of the victim very eloquent in saying,
this has been so here here one moment, there the
next thinking they're going to be kept in They're not
thinking that, she says, It's just she's living day to
day with it all.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Kevin, look, I mean, I understand why this particular cases
and sensing people, but it is a symptom of larger problem,
which is that you're running in a prison space. So
are there any moves afoot to actually make more space?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yes, So there are different options available to him, Heather.
More than ten thousand, one hundred people in prison are
foreign nationals, so he could that's one in eight. So
he could attempt to send some of those back to
their foreign countries of birth and say, look, you've got
to keep them imprisoned, or you can release them earlier,

(02:26):
but you are being deported and you are never being
allowed back in. That would be one issue. Another one
is that there are fewer women prisoners, so it would
be possible potentially to close a women's prison down and
make it a men's prison, but that would take time
to convert. And this pair of due to be released
in January, and there are a couple of other options,
which is basically changing the severity of the crimes committed

(02:51):
by those who are released early. And let's not forget
under the current regime anyway, prisoners can be released our
good behavior after just half their sentence. This is just
after a third for one of the most hideous killings
are imaginable when this young police officer was dragged to
his death behind the getaway car. So you know there
are options available, and this same mantra of oh, we

(03:14):
can't do anything. We can't do anything because that would
require a change in the law. I don't know about you, head,
I thought our politicians were there to change the law.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
It's almost like they've got that power. Hey, how long
have we gone onto this by election?

Speaker 2 (03:27):
The by election is tomorrow. So this is Clacton East,
which is a Clacton Essex, which is to the east
of London. And it's because Nigral Farage said, I am
resigning as the Member of Parliament and then immediately restanding
in the by election. Now he's done this because he's
been investigated over an eleven million New Zealand dollar gift

(03:47):
which he was given before becoming an MP. But the
Standards Committee looking as to whether he should have actually
notified them about it. Now he says, okay, right, let's
put this to the public. This is a public vote
on my honesty. He's confident of course of winning his
seat back, particularly as all the major parties are not standing.
They have embargoed or boycotted this whole process. But that

(04:11):
has led to some thirty four candidates on one of
the lengthiest ballot papers ever seen, including Count Binface, an
actor turned politician Lawrence Fox, three candidates from the official
Monster Raving Lunar Party, including Nick the Incredible Flying Brick,
Alan Howling, Lord Hope and Barren vonn the thunderclap.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Wow, it sounds like it's a really serious thing. I'm
so excited about how serious your politics is right now, Kevin.
Thanks very much, Kevin Gray, UK Correspondent. I'm there for
that election, by the way. I want to see what
happens in that by election.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
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