A parliamentary candidate standing against Boris Johnson is hoping to poll the lowest votes of anyone at the UK general election to make a point and win £1,000 in a bet.

James Franklyn Jackson, 71, is standing in Uxbridge and South Ruislip as the Mayor of London is, but unlike his illustrious Tory opponent he is not planning to win the seat.

Mr Jackson has placed a £20 bet at odds of 50/1 with William Hill to poll the fewest votes of any UK candidate.

He wants to win enough to pay off his £500 deposit and travelling costs from France where he lives while highlighting the perceived unfairness of long-term expats not being allowed to vote in the election.

Mr Jackson said: "'Because I have worked abroad in such places as the Falkland Islands for more than 15 years, I am by law, prohibited from voting in any UK election or referendum.

"There are many thousands of us who, although British citizens, UK passport holders and paying income tax to the UK government, have lost our vote and any right of representation, although we are directly affected by any law the UK makes."

Several MPs have campaigned for the removal of the "15 year rule" which stops expats who have lived abroad for that long from voting, although they are somewhat bizarrely still eligible to stand as a candidate in the general election.