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How UKIP became “Fresh Choice for London”

The party's mayoral candidate was listed incorrectly on the ballot paper.

By George Eaton

A bizarre cock-up meant that the UK Independence Party’s candidate for mayor of London, Lawrence Webb, was listed on the ballot paper as Fresh Choice for London (it should have read UKIP: A Fresh Choice for London). A “furious” Nigel Farage has admitted that the fault was at UKIP’s end: they forgot to put their party name on the nomination paper.

It certainly appears to have cost his party votes. As things stand, the UKIP candidate is on just two per cent in the first round, compared with four per cent in the final YouGov poll. The mistake is also likely to have aided Boris Johnson by limiting the number of right-wing protest votes (although many would have put Boris as their second preference). Were the race between Boris and Ken closer than it is, the error could have proved far more controversial.

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