The Man Who Founded, Abandoned, and Accidentally Rejoined His Own Party Is Now Standing for Parliament Again, Somehow

On the high street of Hesswick Central — a constituency in the East Midlands that has returned five different MPs in eleven years and whose Wikipedia entry now has its own disambiguation page — there is a lamppost bearing a campaign poster for the by-election scheduled for next Thursday.

The poster features a photograph of a man in a blue tie standing in front of what might be a field. The man is smiling with the particular intensity of someone who has recently been told that smiling is important. The poster reads: Real Change. Your Voice. Our Future. Together.

There are no policies on the poster. There is no party logo. There is, in the bottom right corner, a web address that leads to a page that says 'site coming soon'.

The man is Colin Burridge. He is, depending on how you count it, either the sitting MP for Hesswick Central or not, a matter currently being assessed by the Electoral Commission with what one official described as 'weary thoroughness'.

A Political Career in Five Acts

Colin Burridge was first elected to Parliament in 2014 as a Conservative MP for Hesswick Central, a seat he won with a majority of 212 votes after his Labour opponent accidentally submitted two nomination forms and was disqualified on a technicality. He described his election as 'a mandate for common sense'.

By 2017, Burridge had resigned the Conservative whip over what he described in a 900-word Medium post as 'the slow death of genuine conservatism', though colleagues at the time attributed it more specifically to a disagreement about car parking allocations in the Members' car park. He sat briefly as an independent before co-founding the British Renewal Alliance, a party whose founding principles included 'putting the country first', 'cutting through the noise', and 'common sense' — a phrase Burridge employs with a frequency that suggests he may not be aware other phrases exist.

The British Renewal Alliance reached a peak membership of 340 people, fielded candidates in four constituencies at the 2019 general election, and received a combined vote share of 0.3 per cent. Burridge lost his seat to Labour by 47 votes. He described the result as 'the beginning of something'.

The Wilderness Years (2019–2022)

Between 2019 and 2022, Burridge published a memoir (Against the Grain: One Man's Fight for Sanity in an Insane Political World, £14.99, currently ranked 1.2 million on Amazon), appeared on a podcast about 'real politics' that released six episodes before going silent, and gave a speech at a conference organised by a think tank that no longer appears to have a website.

He also, in 2021, quietly rejoined the Conservative Party. He has since said he was 'unaware the direct debit had gone back through' and that he 'looked into it' but 'it seemed complicated to reverse'. The Conservative Party has confirmed he is a member. They have not confirmed whether they are pleased about this.

In 2022, following the resignation of the Labour MP who had taken his seat — who left to pursue 'opportunities in the private sector', which turned out to be a podcast — Hesswick Central held its second by-election in three years. Burridge stood as an independent, came second, and described the result as 'a moral victory'. The winner described it as 'an actual victory'.

The Defection That Wasn't, Then Was, Then Wasn't Again

The immediate cause of the current by-election is, depending on who you ask, either 'a matter of principle' or 'a complete misunderstanding about party membership forms'.

In January of this year, Burridge announced at a press conference — attended by two journalists and a man who had wandered in from the street — that he was defecting from the Conservative Party to the British Renewal Alliance, the party he had co-founded in 2017. He said this represented a 'return to my roots' and 'the kind of bold decision the public deserves'.

It was pointed out to him, during the press conference, that the British Renewal Alliance had formally dissolved in 2020 after failing to file its accounts with the Electoral Commission.

Burridge said he had not been informed of this. He said he would 'look into it'. He left.

A month later, he announced the re-registration of the British Renewal Alliance as a new political party. He then announced he was defecting to it from the Conservatives. He then announced he was resigning his seat to trigger a by-election, 'to give the people of Hesswick Central a proper say'.

When asked by this publication whether he had considered simply remaining in his seat, he said that was 'not the kind of politics' he was interested in.

The Campaign Leaflet

The British Renewal Alliance campaign leaflet for the Hesswick Central by-election was delivered to approximately 18,000 homes last week. It is a single A4 sheet, printed on both sides.

A full content analysis reveals the following:

• The word 'change' appears fourteen times
• The word 'future' appears nine times
• The word 'community' appears seven times
• The word 'together' appears six times
• The phrase 'common sense' appears four times
• Specific policy commitments: zero
• Mentions of the NHS: one (in the sentence 'Our NHS deserves better')
• Mentions of what 'better' means: zero

The reverse side features a photograph of Burridge shaking hands with an elderly woman outside what appears to be a post office. The post office closed in 2021.

What Voters Think

'I've voted in three by-elections here in six years,' said one resident, who asked not to be named, outside a Greggs on the high street. 'At this point I just vote for whoever I think will be least likely to cause another one.'

Another voter said she had received the leaflet and read it 'quite carefully' before concluding she still had 'no idea what he actually wants to do'. She said she found this 'oddly relaxing'.

A third voter said he had voted for Burridge in 2014, against him in 2019, and was now 'keeping his options open', which he acknowledged was 'a bit like Colin, really'.

Polling for the by-election shows the race is, in the words of one analyst, 'genuinely too confused to call'. The Liberal Democrats, who did not hold the seat at any point in the last twenty years, are currently polling third and described their position as 'extremely promising'.

The by-election is next Thursday. Whatever happens, it is widely expected not to be the last one.