Rejoin EU Party chooses John Stevens to fight the Clacton by-election
Clacton for Europe is delighted that the Rejoin EU Party has chosen John Stevens to fight the Clacton by-election on Thursday 13 August, and we are glad to give him our support.
For the first time in a good many years, people here who believe that leaving the European Union was a mistake will have a candidate on the ballot paper willing to say so plainly. That is why we mean to put everything we have behind this campaign, and why we ask you to join us.
John Stevens, Rejoin EU Party candidate for Clacton.
The Rejoin EU Party's announcement is reproduced in full below.
News release — 14 July 2026
Rejoin EU Party chooses former MEP and Deputy Leader John Stevens to fight Clacton by-election
Today the Rejoin EU Party announced John Stevens, a former Conservative MEP and well-known pro-EU advocate who previously beat Nigel Farage in a parliamentary election in Buckingham, as its candidate in the upcoming Clacton by-election on Thursday August 13th.
Stevens, who is also the Rejoin EU Party’s deputy leader, said: “This by-election is not about Nigel Farage’s finances, nor those of his party, which are already subject to ongoing official Parliamentary and wider procedures. Nor is it a joke, for no election is a joke in a democracy.
“It’s the opportunity for Clacton voters to express a judgement on the one policy pre-eminently advocated by Farage which has actually been implemented: Britain leaving the EU. One which is inflicting enormous, ongoing and accumulating damage upon our politics, our economy, our society and our culture.
“An historic national mistake caused, in different ways, as much by the Remainers as by the Leavers in the referendum campaign. And a mistake that, ten years later, a clear and growing majority of the British people now recognize as such.
“Nations, like individuals, who lack the honesty to admit, and the courage to correct, their mistakes, are doomed to compound them.
“This by-election offers an opportunity for the voters of Clacton, in the most direct and dramatic fashion imaginable, to begin this process of admission and correction, which is so central to our whole national future.”
Rejoin EU Party leader Richard Hewison said: “The people of Clacton deserve better than the meagre choice of candidates they’ve been offered.
“The fact the major parties have stood down fearing they can’t beat Farage is a total abdication of responsibility that won’t go unnoticed by UK voters.”
Party chairman Brendan Donnelly said: “Brexit has been a disaster for the whole UK, but particularly in areas such as Clacton where Brexit’s effect on the cost-of-living crisis has made life virtually unaffordable.
“Farage is unquestionably to blame and we hope the voters of Clacton will hold him accountable.”
The Rejoin EU Party will be sending a leaflet to every home in Clacton explaining why voters should choose John.
Notes to editors
For interviews and further information, please email [email protected]
For a brief biography of John, visit therejoineuparty.com/team
Find out more by visiting therejoineuparty.com and following the party on Twitter at @rejoinp and at facebook.com/RejoinEUParty
The Rejoin EU Party is campaigning to re-join the EU because we believe re-joining is the only way to solve the multiple problems Brexit has created. Brexit is broken and it’s breaking our country too. All the promises on which Brexit was sold to the electorate in 2016 were nonsense. Far from reducing red tape and providing £350m a week for the NHS, Brexit makes trading with the crucial European market more complex, difficult and expensive and threatens to reduce funding for public services. If you agree Brexit is making our country poorer, less tolerant and less united, join us and send a message to Westminster that you want your EU membership back, with all its freedoms and benefits.
The news release above was promoted by Richard Hewison for the Rejoin EU Party, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE.
What this means for us here
Clacton for Europe is a local group, run by John's campaign, and between now and 13 August we shall be out on the seafront and along the doorsteps of the constituency. If you would care to lend a hand, whether an hour at a street stall, a road of leaflets, or no more than a poster in your window, we should be very glad to hear from you.