Arron Banks throws in the towel

Arron Banks’ bid to become the MP for Clacton is over already. Just six days ago, the multi-millionaire Ukip donor was ‘a million per cent going for it’, and Banks said that ‘come hell or high water’ he was standing. Not any more. Banks, who had planned to fight Douglas Carswell for the seat before Carswell said that he was not going to stand again, announced that he was throwing in the towel.

So why did Banks bottle it? He says he decided not to run because he didn’t want to ‘leap over’ the local Ukip candidate. Mr S is disappointed that Banks’ plans to put Clacton ‘on the map’ and set up a pirate radio station on a fishing trawler off the Essex coast will now never see the light of day. But at least Banks will be spared having to swot up on a constituency he admitted to knowing nothing about.