Though not a London constituency, we’ll be covering the campaign in South Thanet because it will undoubtedly be one of the more interesting battle grounds of the May 7th General Election.

United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage has declared this area his best chance for a seat in the new parliament, which will resume on May 18th.

Mr Farage is among a host of notable candidates on the ballot paper for South Thanet.

They include Al Murray (the ‘Pub Landlord’, representing the Free United Kingdom Party, FUKP), Mark ‘Bez’ Berry (formerly of the rock band, the Happy Mondays), Prophet Zebadiah of the Al-Zebabist Nation of Ooog Party, and Labour candidate Will Scobie.

Mr Farage said recently:

Some parts of the constituency have been awfully let down by their successive Tory MPs and a Labour-run council, and it’s only by electing UKIP to council and parliament that Thanet will get a fair showing.

The high-profile leader of UKIP views the neglect of Thanet as his main area for campaigning.

UKIP will be seeking to overturn a 17 per cent Conservative majority.

Mr Farage has said that if he were to lose in South Thanet, it would signal the end of his tenure as UKIP’s leader.

Conservative candidate Craig McKinlay has listed three concerns that will be central to his parliamentary campaign:

The fight for a future for Manston, pushing for the delivery of high speed rail services to Thanet, and for our unique and natural assets within the constituency to be added drivers towards economic prosperity [in South Thanet].

Mr Scobie said one of the main priorities for his campaign is to protect the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital.

Quite different policies have been proposed by the likes of FUKP, including Mr Murray’s pledge to revalue the pound at one pound 10 pence.