LONDON -- British comedian Al Murray plans to give the leader of the Eurosceptic right-wing UK Independence Party Nigel Farage a run for his money in May's general election.
Murray said Wednesday he's running for the seat of Thanet South in Kent as "The Pub Landlord," his mock-xenophobic character.
A spokesperson at the agency managing Murray confirmed the news to Mashable, and said his papers would be lodged before the deadline.
Murray is running under the newly formed Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP) banner with tongue-in-cheek policies, such as pledging to leave the edge of the solar system by 2050.
Other Murray policies include sending London Mayor Boris Johnson to an island, making South Thanet the UK's new capital and bringing in a street raffle to determine which schools kids get into. He also promises to cut the price of a pint of beer to a penny, and brick up the Channel Tunnel -- with British bricks.
But can Murray stand as The Pub Landlord? Well, according to the Electoral Commission, "Where a candidate commonly uses a name which is different from any other name he has, the commonly used name may also appear on the nomination paper, but if it does so, the commonly used name (instead of any other name) will appear on the ballot paper."
Murray set out more of The Pub Landlord's manifesto, here:
And Farage has already responded on Twitter:
The more, the merrier! @almurray— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) January 14, 2015
But the UKIP leader need not be too worried, as one political pollster noted:
Re @almurray Thanet S bid. Celebs rarely have much of an impact at general elections - remember Esther Rantzen at Luton at GE2010— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 14, 2015
Betting company Ladbrokes did, however, put Murray ahead of government partners, the Liberal Democrats:
We make @almurray 66/1 to win the Thanet South seat just ahead of the Lib Dems #GE2015 ... http://t.co/Eb9GVcScEy pic.twitter.com/HH3ZRktr43— Ladbrokes (@Ladbrokes) January 14, 2015
The UK general election takes place on May 7. Murray would have to file his nomination papers from the day after the publication of the notice of election, until the sixth day after the dissolution of UK Parliament.