Off the Record

One thing you can never say about Nigel Farage is that he is like other politicians. After being liberated from the rigours of leading his party, he marked the occasion by going skinny dipping in the sea.

Yes, that’s right – stark naked, he wandered into the cooling waters of the sea in Bournemouth. At least he did it late at night which spared most of the full spectacle. Asked about it later, he declared it to have been a fun thing to do. Imagine Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn doing the same. No, perhaps we shouldn’t.

Kent MPs have been singularly unimpressed by proposed changes to the boundaries of their constituencies, we hear. At a briefing last week to hear about the carve up from the Boundary Commission, they made it perfectly clear they were less than happy about some of the changes and the anomalies in the numbers of constituents. A turf war beckons.

It’s a little too early to speculate on who the next leader of Ukip might be so soon after the election of Diane James. But if you are interested, the odds on a certain Nigel Farage returning are set at 4 to 1. He’s already hinted if there has been insufficient progress on Brexit by 2020, he will stand for election. That’d be his eighth stab at getting into Parliament. Might he be eyeing up a return to try for South Thanet?

Which brings us to Jeremy Corbyn’s likely victory in the leadership campaign and the impact that could have on candidates picked to fight Kent seats. Or rather, the fact as things stand none have been chosen. Now the waiting game is over, we suspect many of those chosen to contest seats in 2015 might well have decided to pursue other careers outside politics.

Follow Paul on Twitter for all Kent’s political news and gossip at @PaulOnPolitics