The Brexit party has announced the former Tory-supporting businessman Mike Greene as its candidate for the Peterborough byelection.
Greene, who appeared on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire, will stand for Nigel Farage’s new party on 6 June.
In a video introducing his candidacy, shown at the Great Northern hotel in Peterborough, Greene said: “I never wanted to get into politics but the system is broken. I am asking you to vote for me as the Brexit party candidate to get a politician in Peterborough who wants to work for you.”
He said that if he had been asked 10 days or two weeks ago if he expected to be making this speech, he would have said no. “But times are changing and it is time to change for good,” he said.
He added: “This city, like this country, can do so much better. There is so much to celebrate, but often people say about Peterborough: isn’t that where you go to get a new passport? We are an hour and a half from four international airports. We need someone who cares about the city.”
Greene, a lifelong Conservative supporter, is a former trustee of Peterborough Cathedral and local benefactor. He built his business globally before returning to the city where he grew up.
Farage said he was pleased with Greene’s candidacy. “What we do know is Labour are working the ground hard and we start with a couple of disadvantages.
“What we have is a particular appeal with this type of candidate, someone who has not been part of the two major parties, someone who has clearly never coveted a career in politics. Someone who is doing it because he believes in it. That is the kind of new politics the Brexit party will bring to all elections in this country.”
Farage said he believed the party would do very well. “We will give it our best shot, and that is the best I can say at this stage. The Conservative and Labour party will be very worried by the presence of Mike Greene.”
The mood in Peterborough was mixed on whether a Brexit party would be successful, with people commenting that the city was divided politically. However, Britain leaving the EU seemed to be a central issue for many considering who to vote for.
Mark Harris, 49, said: “Brexit is the main issue. I wish MPs would listen to the public and fulfil what we have asked for. I am voting on that issue primarily because it is fundamental to democracy. The Brexit party will get my vote because I want to see Brexit happen.”
Another resident, Helen Townsend, 41, agreed. “Brexit is a concern, but so is homelessness, which is rife in the city. But everyone feels let down by all the major parties. They don’t seem to have our interests at heart. I will vote independent.”
Kieren Steels, 31, said he felt that Labour were the only party to “see us through the mess we are in”. He said: “I set up a shop for kids to do art, music and science in the area. I did it through a GoFundMe page… We want to show the council that this sort of stuff works, but we have to pay for it ourselves. All the attention is on Brexit, which half the country does not want.”
Lucy Anderson, 18, said that a lot of older people were Conservative in Peterborough while the younger generation had varied beliefs. “If a Brexit party got in it would cause a lot of tension… Brexit is not a factor in how I will be voting. I am down for anyone who will put funding into the NHS and other services. I really hate Brexit.”
An attempt to form an alliance of pro-remain parties to support a single candidate collapsed on Thursday afternoon.
The byelection in Peterborough was triggered when disgraced Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was removed from office after a recall petition. The 35-year-old solicitor was convicted earlier this year of perverting the course of justice for lying about a speeding offence.
More than a quarter of voters in the Cambridgeshire constituency signed the petition to remove her.
Labour has put up Lisa Forbes as a candidate, with Paul Bristow representing the Conservatives, and Beki Sellick for the Liberal Democrats.
Farage, speaking in Peterborough on Thursday, said he wanted to respond to Labour’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who has said that only his party can “stand up to Farage’s snake oil.”
“It sounds to me that he is getting rattled,” Farage said. “There are millions of traditional Labour voters who voted to leave … He should take up my more-than-generous offer to have a public debate with him.”
Corbyn said on Thursday: “The view we put forward – the party conference put this forward, the national executive agreed this – [was] that we should include the option of having a ballot on a public vote on the outcome of the talks and negotiations on what we’re putting forward. I would want that to be seen as a healing process, and bringing this whole process to a conclusion.
“Nothing is easy in this. But our essential message has to be to bring people together and that’s the basis on which we’ve approached both what we’ve done in parliament and in the negotiations itself.”
Farage said: “I don’t think we need a second referendum. We’ve had a referendum. I think it would be a huge insult to the British public to force them to vote again and I expect we’d vote leave by a bigger margin.”
