Posted in: Comics, Current News, Pop Culture | Tagged: general election, Mitre, pub, richmond

Two Days To The British General Election – Anyone Fancy A Quick One?

In Richmond, a pub is standing for election. Rich Johnston, political cartoonist, carried out his first political interview, at The Mitre.

Rich Johnston, founder of Bleeding Cool, is a British political cartoonist. This is the fifth of several columns in the run-up to the General Election being held by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on July 4th.

We've run through the leadup to the British General Election, as well as a look at the three main players and the issues that surround then, Sir Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and Nigel Farage. Time for a well-deserved break at the local pub. And in my case, that happens to be The Mitre pub, in North Sheen, part of my constituency of Richmond Park, with only a massive royal deer park you may have seen in Ted Lasso in between me and the pub that takes an hour and a half to walk across or an hour to circumnavigate it by bus. But the deer can't vote.

One of these people will be elected as my MP by majority vote. The party able to summon a majority of MPs will form government and its leader will be Prime Minister, That's how we do thing. When looking at all the candidates, in a longstanding broadcasting tradition, I will list them all.

• Laura Coryton, Labour Party
• Chris French, The Mitre TW9
• Sara Gezdari, Conservative and Unionist Party
• Richard Harrison, Social Democratic Party
• Michael Hearn, Reform UK
• Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrats
• Chas Warlow, Green Party

And yes, that includes Chris French of The Mitre TW9, that's the postcode for the pub. And now it seems the pub is now a political party.

I popped round yesterday for an excellent pint of cider (Thistly Cross for anyone asking) and met Chris… and Rudi the pub dog. So what are his politics? Well… none. He has no manifesto to publish, no policies to promote and if he wasn't standing for election, he wouldn't even vote. But he discovered during the last General Election that all you had to do to stand in election, was to register as a party and then pay a £500 deposit when the election was eventually announced. "And once I think of something, it sticks"… And so that's what he did. The pub is off the main thoroughfare and just too far outside Richmond to get that casual crowd. He says that there were people in the neighbouring road who didn't know the pub was there. And the election gets lots of local people involved and they are over eighteen. But by standing for election, he has put the place on the map.

And he has seen an uptick in traffic since the election literature went out… some curious members of the public, though often from hacks like myself. A Political Communications professor has popped round for a chat, the BBC came by – though were more disappointed by Chris' lack of political views- and well as some local papers. And now Bleeding Cool.

Chris talked about just how easy it was to register as a candidate and how the government website is one of the easier he has used. "I just googled… it was incredibly easy. I just said who I was, how old I was, they asked for a logo, we put all that in and got accepted. It's as simple as that… You have to submit returns, I have submitted zero returns, I am not planning on taking or spending any money." He didn't stand for the London mayoralty, the deposit for that is £10,000. But £500 is a lot more affordable, though he is dealing with some current maintenance bills in the pub that he hopes an increase in traffic will pay towards. And the regulars are amused.

The Mitre was originally built by the church as a coachhouse back in 1865. It's a lovely pub, small and snug, old school ale and cider house in a residential area, without being grim, has a strong sense of local community without alienating newcomers, it's got a pizza kitchen from Wednesdays to Sundays named after the pub dog, leather Chesterfields and wingbacks, a beer garden and live music from local musicians on Sunday early evenings. And a real fire for when those evenings start to draw in. And is diagonally opposite the Chapel Of St Francis and The Hickey's Almshouses, dating back to the same time the Mitre was built.

He seems to have a little disdain for Al Murray, the comedian with the character The Pub Landlord, a fictitious cartoon parody of a publican, who stood against Nigel Farage in East Thanet last time. He doesn't plan to attend the final night of hustings for the count. He's been told that results normally happens at around 4 am, "well past my bedtime". And if he is actually elected, he has no idea what he will do. "I would go for it as long as I could until I got my MP's pension for life." He wouldn't even bother going to Parliament for a look round, he has no interest. To be fair, an MP has no obligated set duties or hours, even attendance in Parliament, as Sinn Fein will attest to. He can keep running the pub. He does say that he'd only release a manifesto if elected on the 5th of July, which is probably when Labour will say what they are actually doing. "I am just a publican with a good marketing idea… as long as I don't come last, I don't care, but… I've already won." I drain my pint.

He is very unlikely to actually win, though. Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Olney MP is expected to win with around 70% of the vote here, and she does have my vote. My eldest daughter however, now 18, has decided she will be voting for Chris, and it was her who set me on this journey. She doesn't drink… but then  neither does Chris. He's like Rishi Sunak in that fashion. Could Chris be our second teetotaller Prrme Minister?

No. But he does pour an exceedingly good pint. And now that I know about this place, I am guaranteed to return with the kids for pizza night. That will go some way to paying back the £50 at least. The General Election is held on the 4th of July… all round Chris's place afterwards? There will be pizza…

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