Clacton by-election: Boris forgets the Tory candidate's name (which is Giles Watling)

61-year-old councillor will be in the fray on Thursday after Douglas Carswell's defection to Ukip

Boris Johnson couldn't remember the name of the Tory candidate in the Clacton by-election, Giles Watling (PA/Getty)

It was never going to be very rewarding being the Conservative candidate in Thursday’s by-election in Clacton.

He is not so much a candidate – more a fall guy, because from the minute the incumbent MP, Douglas Carswell, defected from the Conservatives to Ukip and forced the election, Clacton was always going to be chalked up as the first seat the Tories ever lost to Nigel Farage’s crew.

But it would help if prominent Tories could remember their candidate’s name. On that basic test, Boris Johnson has spectacularly fallen down.