2024 End Of Season Awards

Our biggest ever Fantasy General Election game has now come to an end; but before we log off for 2024, let's take a look back on this year's biggest and best performers.

Across the UK, 650 public-spirited citizens will be celebrating their election to parliament. And rightly so.

Whether it is their first time being sent to the House of Commons, or whether they're a seasoned parliamentarian, there can be no doubt that being chosen to represent the people as an MP is a significant honour, and a huge achievement.

However, for a very select few, there is an even greater honour to be had.

While 650 people can be elected as an MP, only a handful can be chosen to win a Fantasy General Election 2024 end of season award.

And so, without further ado, let's take a look at the general election candidates who stood out above the rest - for better or worse - in 2024.

 

Player of the Season

Nigel Farage, Reform UK (Clacton)

There are no great surprises here.

Nigel Farage was the game's most popular player (at least selection-wise, if not politically) by a very long way, appearing in almost a third of all teams.

He was also some way ahead of the second most-chosen player, appearing in 1,500 more teams than The Green Party's Carla Denyer in second place.

Most importantly of all, he was the game's highest scorer, clocking in a whopping 34,122 points.

Love him or hate him, there can be no doubt that Nigel Farage was the standout player of Fantasy General Election 2024.

 

Surprise Package

Ellie Chowns, The Green Party (North Herefordshire)

Throughout the campaign, a lot of the Green Party chat was around co-leader Carla Denyer and - to a lesser extent - co-leader number two Adrian Ramsay.

However, it was Ellie Chowns who ended up being the party's highest scorer, with 31,613 points - enough to put her in 4th place overall.

Ellie Chowns (centre) with Green Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay

Her victory was so unexpected that she was only selected in 66 teams (or not selected in more than 11,600).

Honourable mentions also have to go to the Lib Dems' Richard Foord and Jessica Brown-Fuller, both of whom were selected by fewer than 100 FGE players.

However, there was something about the Greens' underdog spirit that gave Chowns the edge in the race for this prestigious prize.

 

Best Value Player

Tim Farron, Liberal Democrats (Westmorland and Lonsdale)

In some respects, Tim Farron has won this award on a technicality.

While he was, of course, already the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, boundary changes and notional results meant that he was technically a challenger in the 2024 general election.

But what a challenger he was.

Although his total of 26,612 points was only enough to put him in 9th place overall, at a cost of only £5,140 he scored more points per pound than any other player in the game.

While he may have been helped by a quirk of the system, the former Lib Dem leader is a worthy winner of this year's prize.

 

Party of the Year

The Liberal Democrats

There were clearly a few contenders for this award. It was a big year for both Reform UK and The Green Party, and I'm sure that Labour supporters will be generally pretty chuffed at how things have gone in 2024 so far.

However, in Fantasy General Election terms, there was a clear winner: The Liberal Democrats.

The Lib Dems accounted for 22 of the top 50 candidates this year, and half of the top 10, marking a stellar performance for Ed Davey & co.

On the flip side, it was clearly a disappointing year in all respects for the Conservative Party, but also a little underwhelming from Labour in Fantasy General Election terms.

There was a lot of chat about Sir Keir Stamer's party in the build-up to the election, but Labour's best-performing candidate, Keir Mather in Selby, only managed to make it to 16th on the individual leaderboard.

In fact, our new party of government doesn't have a single representative in the 2024 team of the season.

It was still a good all-round performance - although if we're honest they probably won't care either way - but it was the Lib Dems who had the biggest-hitters.

 

Team of the Season

Finally, our overall best XI from the 2024 General Election:

As in the game, we've stuck to selection rules around positions and nations, so there were a few attackers unlucky to miss out this time around.

If we're being brutally honest, there are a couple of players who have only made it in by virtue of standing in non-English seat, but rules are rules.

And so, without further ado, here is the official Fantasy General Election team of 2024:

 

To keep up to date on future Fantasy General Election games, and other daft stuff like that, you can find me on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and Substack.