LONDON, 29 March 2005 — The father of a soldier killed in Iraq, a former British spy and a “raving loony” are just three of the people planning to stand against Prime Minister Tony Blair in Britain’s forthcoming general election.

Accusing him of lying over the Iraq war and back-tracking on domestic policy pledges, the challengers want Blair to pay the ultimate price for his alleged failings by losing his own constituency in Sedgefield, northeast England.

Analysts, however, argue that the seasoned politician, who secured a 17,700-strong majority at the last election in 2001, would be near-impossible to unseat despite a growing swell of public opinion against him.

“We have had approaches from several people stating their intention” to run against Blair, said John Stubbs, the principal electoral services officer for Sedgefield.

The list includes Reg Keys, an independent candidate furious at the prime minister after losing his son in the Iraq war, Boney Maroney from the satirical Monster Raving Loony Party, and a yet-to-be-named challenger for a group called The Blair Must Go Party, Stubbs told AFP.

In addition, David Shayler, an ex-secret agent turned whistleblower, has said he wants to challenge Blair, while the main opposition Conservative Party last week revealed that Al Lockwood, a former military spokesman during the Iraq invasion, would spearhead its campaign.

Stubbs noted that official nominations would only be confirmed once the government calls the election, which is widely expected to take place on May 5.

“I am standing purely as an independent for truth, honesty, trust and accountability,” said Keys, 52, a former paramedic from north Wales.

“There has to be accountability for taking this country into an illegal war,” he told AFP.

Keys decided to stand against Blair for the sake of his son Thomas, a military policeman killed in Iraq in June 2003, four days before his 21st birthday.

“I feel I am a man betrayed... My son is lying in a grave. That can’t be allowed to happen, a prime minister cannot mislead his country,” Keys said.

Backed by a group of musicians, journalists and other notables, Keys felt confident that he would be able to steal votes from Blair following a recent trip to Sedgefield, where he plans to campaign three days a week.

“I went to a pub and met with the locals who said they felt that I was a man they could relate to. They said they could not relate to the prime minister, because he was never there,” he recalled.

Despite a lack of political experience, the bereaved father said his anti-war platform would score well among the student population and ethnic minorities in Sedgefield, a constituency of about 67,000 potential voters.

“Maybe we can just pull off a sensation,” he said. Keys is not alone in his desire to turn contempt for the prime minister into a genuine political challenge.

Shayler, who first made headlines in 1997 after disclosing secret MI5 documents to a British newspaper, has also said he wants to run, although he plans to meet with Keys this week to work out how to avoid splitting the vote.

The former spy told The Guardian newspaper that he would challenge Blair’s credibility and ability to lead “in the light of his lies over the war”.

“If Blair were an American or French president, the electorate would have a chance to remove him from power,” said Shayler.

“As things stand in Britain’s increasingly undemocratic society, only the people of Sedgefield have the opportunity to vote him out of power.”

A less serious candidate is the Monster Raving Loony Party’s Maroney, 48, who said she was doing everything possible to win no votes at all.

“My policies are so ridiculous that I am sure no one will ever vote for them,” she said, listing one such pledge as converting a housing estate near Sedgefield into a Safari Park packed with kangaroos and deer.

Maroney said she did not want to win because it would be too much hard work to fix all the mistakes made during Blair’s eight years in power.

“I am going up there to basically say, ‘Up yours Tony’. I don’t care if I get no votes. The country is in such a damn mess, who would want to take the job on now?”

While the stage looks set for an interesting election battle, political analyst Paul Whiteley doubted Blair faced any real danger of losing his seat — a post he has held since 1983.

“It is a very safe seat. He has been an MP for a number of years and I think he has worked pretty well in a sense of done constituency work,” Whiteley explained.

As for whether or not Blair himself was feeling worried about the challenges, a spokesman from his governing Labour Party failed to return AFP’s calls.