Voters in Holborn and St Pancras, in the London Borough of Camden, elect a new MP on Thursday 8 October 2026. Restore Britain's candidate is Tyler Johnson, one of 15 people on the ballot. It is the second Westminster by-election the party has contested, after Makerfield in June 2026.
Why there is a by-election
Sir Keir Starmer, the seat's MP since 2015, gave his final speech as Prime Minister on 20 July 2026, the day Andy Burnham succeeded him. On 1 September he told the Camden New Journal that he would stand down as an MP to focus on international affairs. The same day the Chancellor of the Exchequer appointed him Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern, the formal means by which an MP leaves the Commons. The House of Commons ordered the writ for the by-election on 7 September.
Polls are open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 8 October.
The candidates
Camden Council's statement of persons nominated, published on 15 September, lists 15 candidates with these ballot descriptions:
- Sagal Abdi-Wali: Labour Party
- Barmy Brunch: Official Monster Raving Loony Party
- Ewan Cameron: The Conservative Party Candidate
- Tom Darwood: no description
- Clare Fischer: Climate Party
- George Galloway: Workers Party
- Tyler Kurtis Johnson: Restore Britain
- Briony Anne Lonbay Kapoor: Rejoin EU
- Peter Newman: Reform UK
- Ketankumar Pipaliya: UK VOICE safer and stronger UK
- Zack Polanski: The Green Party
- Jonathan Silberman: Communist League
- Helen Spiby-Vann: Christian Peoples Alliance
- Patrick Thomas Stillman: Liberal Democrats
- Ben Walker: UKIP - NO to Illegal Immigration
Restore Britain's candidate
Rupert Lowe announced Johnson as the candidate on X on 15 September. He described him as a lawyer "who has called London home for the past ten years" and who "has served as a school governor, volunteered in schools providing careers advice, and mentored aspiring young lawyers". The BBC's candidate guide describes him as a corporate lawyer based in London. The party has since featured him in campaign videos on its YouTube channel and on X.
In the same post Lowe wrote: "Entirely because of mass immigration, this is not a seat a party promising deportations of any kind can win. That's just the electoral reality. For now, at least. So for the remaining patriots in Holborn & St Pancras, this is a free hit."
The seat
Holborn and St Pancras has long been held by Labour. At the 2024 general election Starmer won it with a majority of 11,572. The BBC calculated that at the May 2026 local elections Labour took 39.5% of the vote across the wards that make up the constituency, and the Greens 29.8%. It added that the Greens' share was higher if they were assigned the votes in two wards where they stood aside. No by-election constituency poll was listed by PollCheck when checked on 5 October. A model based on older election results is not a survey of voters in this contest.
Arrests during the campaign
Two of the party's campaigning sessions ended in arrests. The Metropolitan Police said that on Saturday 19 September, on Parkway in Camden, where about 12 Restore Britain campaigners were leafleting and around 30 Stand Up To Racism protesters were present, a woman was seen to punch one of the campaigners and was arrested on suspicion of common assault. On Saturday 26 September in Kentish Town, according to a Met statement reported by GB News, two men were arrested on suspicion of assault after separate altercations: an 18-year-old canvassing for the party, who was later released with no further action, and a 27-year-old from the protest group, who was still in custody when the statement was issued.
After the first incident Lowe cancelled the next day's campaigning session in the constituency and said the party would bring in private security for later events.
Reporting on campaign activists
On 4 October, The Telegraph reported that Johnson's nomination was proposed by Patrick McGinnis, leader of the National Housing Party, and that former BNP official Michael Newland had distributed Restore Britain leaflets and addressed its campaigners. The report described antisemitic statements made by McGinnis in a video and named Lewis Holmes as a prominent campaign organiser. These are attributed findings from the newspaper's reporting, available in its AOL syndication (opens in a new tab).
Asked for a response, a Restore Britain spokesperson criticised the paper's focus on activists rather than the party's policy platform and said Lowe was willing to discuss those policies. McGinnis declined to comment; the report said Holmes, Newland and Johnson had been approached for comment. The allegations concern the campaign's participants and do not change the council's published ballot.
Sources
- Camden Council: statement of persons nominated and notice of poll, 15 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Camden Council: notice of election, 8 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Hansard: new writ for Holborn and St Pancras, 7 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- HM Treasury: Three Hundreds of Chiltern, 1 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Keir Starmer's final speech as Prime Minister, 20 July 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Andy Burnham's first speech as Prime Minister, 20 July 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Camden New Journal: Sir Keir Starmer to step down as MP, 1 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- BBC News: Keir Starmer announces he is standing down as MP, 1 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- BBC News: who are the candidates in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election?, 11 September 2026, updated 28 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- PollCheck: Holborn and St Pancras by-election, constituency polls (checked 5 October 2026) (opens in a new tab)
- UK Parliament: Holborn and St Pancras, 2024 general election result (opens in a new tab)
- Rupert Lowe on X, 15 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- London Now: woman arrested after Restore Britain campaigner punched, 20 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- LBC: woman arrested in Camden, 20 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- GB News: arrests in Kentish Town, 26 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Rupert Lowe on X, 19 September 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- The Telegraph: reporting on Restore Britain's campaign activists, 4 October 2026, syndicated by AOL (opens in a new tab)