Unexpected candidates: from Count Binface to Rees-Mogg's niece

The election has already had its share of controversies over candidates and would-be candidates and this is likely to continue with some notable names for both main parties, and a return for an affectionately remembered independent.

Theodora Clarke – Stafford

Theodora Clarke, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s niece, is running for the Conservatives in the bellwether West Midlands seat of Stafford. She hopes to succeed the Tory Jeremy Lefroy, who is standing down after nine years in parliament. If Clarke won the seat, she would become the second member of Rees-Mogg’s family to be elected to political office this year. His sister Annunziata Rees-Mogg was elected as one of the Brexit party MEPs for the East Midlands in May.

Lord Buckethead – Uxbridge

The comedian Jon Harvey has announced he will stand against Boris Johnson in Uxbridge & South Ruislip. In the 2017 general election he won 249 votes running against Theresa May in Maidenhead as Lord Buckethead. This time around he will run against the prime minister as Count Binface due to a copyright row with the creator of the cult 1984 US film Hyperspace, in which Lord Buckethead is a character.

Natalie Elphicke – Dover

Natalie Elphicke, the wife of the former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke, will contest his former Kent seat of Dover & Deal. He lost the Tory whip in 2017 when allegations of sexual assault – which he denies – were referred to the police. He was eventually charged in July with three counts of sexual assault relating to two women. His wife was formally selected as the Conservative candidate for the seat in a vote by local members last week.

Claudia Webbe – Leicester East

Claudia Webbe, a member of Labour’s NEC and Labour councillor in Islington, was selected by the NEC as a candidate in Leicester East after Keith Vaz announced he would stand down. The party’s leadership has been accused of parachuting her in as a candidate and her selection has been described as “a slap in the face for the Indian community in Leicester” because she is neither a Hindu nor a Sikh. Webbe was born in Leicester and says she still has family there.

Keir Morrison – Bassetlaw

Keir Morrison was chosen by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) to stand in Bassetlaw, the Nottinghamshire seat that was represented by the arch-Corbyn critic John Mann – after it refused to endorse the constituency’s chosen candidate, Sally Gimson. Gimson was selected by local members but then received a letter saying that a series of complaints had been made about her conduct. Morrison, a Unite-backed local councillor, was widely believed to be the NEC’s favoured candidate in the first place.