For this analysis, the BBC counted previous UK House of Commons elections dating back to 1955, by-elections to 1983 and Mayor of London records to 2000. Results prior to this are not included in the analysis.
The current Clacton contest counts towards the three-contest threshold to be included in the analysis.
Local council elections, local and combined-authority mayoral elections, devolved legislatures, European Parliament elections and London Assembly elections were excluded.
Official records do not track individual candidates over time and there can be discrepancies where individuals are recorded under different variations on their name, aliases, or for different parties across their careers.
Correction 6 August 2026: This article has been amended to include details found through historical data where candidate names and political parties were recorded inconsistently. We have updated the text and graphics relating to William Clouston and Joseph 77 to add one more election each to their totals, and added an additional candidate to our analysis, Andy Erlam, who met the threshold for inclusion.
