A wildlife campaigner who dresses as a fox has pulled out of the Clacton by-election after claiming that the whole thing has become a “circus”.
With Count Binface, Lawrence Fox and Nigel Farage, there’s no shortage of comedy contenders set to run in the Clacton by-election.
However, Rob Pownall, the man behind the fox suit, has confirmed he is pulling out of the race after describing the whole thing as a “circus”.
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Pownall, founder of wildlife campaign group Protect the Wild, uses the fox suit and national elections to try and draw attention to the challenges facing British wildlife, and this time was planning on protesting against Farage’s support for fox hunting and bird shooting.
Most notably, he was stood next to prime minister-elect Andy Burnham when he won the Makerfield by-election, a vote in which Pownall came joint-second last.
He entered the Clacton race after the major parties declined to field a candidate against Farage. Since then, the full candidate list has been confirmed, including Farage’s main contender Count Binface, and the likes of Laurence Fox, a Married at First Sight contestant, and the Monster Raving Loony Party.
Pownall said: “This by-election has always been something of a farce. But once you’ve got Laurence Fox, a reality TV contestant and Count Binface on the same ballot, whatever chance there was of this being taken seriously is gone. British wildlife protection is a serious issue, and I’m not willing to see it become part of someone else’s punchline.”
He said his decision to stand in the first place had been driven by Farage’s record on animal welfare: “His support for fox hunting and bird shooting felt too important to ignore. This was a rare chance to put those issues directly in front of people, and to make the point that you can’t call yourself anti-establishment while defending bloodsports.”
Pownall pointed to national newspaper coverage secured during the campaign as evidence the goal had already been achieved without needing to remain in the race.
“In the last 24 hours we got the front page of the biggest circulated newspaper in the country, read by around 2.5 million people, making exactly the argument we set out to make,” he said.
“That’s arguably the best coverage this campaign could have hoped for, and we got it without ever standing on a stage.”
He added: “Farage can be the ringleader of his own circus. We’re not here to be one of his performers.”