Larry Sanders, Bernie's Brother, to Fight for David Cameron's MP Seat

Larry Sanders, the older brother of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who lives in the U.K., is taking a page from his brother's book and running for the parliamentary seat left empty by former Prime Minister David Cameron.

And in keeping with family tradition, he will campaign on a platform to end social inequality and neoliberalism. The elder Sanders, who was chosen by the Green Party, opposes privatization of healthcare and, as a retired social worker, wants to highlight the impacts of austerity on public services.

"In Britain, as in the U.S., we have had an increase in inequality in the last 30 years, and that's having all sorts of consequences," he told the Guardian on Friday--comments that probably seemed familiar to some American readers. "Many people can't afford houses who you would have expected to not long ago."

"We need to show that we don't want Britain to be the most unequal country in Europe. We don't want unmet health needs to increase when we already have too few doctors, nurses, and hospital beds," he said in a separate statement. "We don't want the government to impose unworkable contracts on 50,000 precious doctors, when it is clear that the supposed reason for the contract, a seven day hospital service, can't be done at present funding."

"This is a rich, capable, and decent country," he said. "We can do better."

Cameron resigned as prime minister following the Brexit referendum but only stepped down as a minister of parliament this month, triggering a by-election for his seat in Witney of Oxfordshire.

Left-leaning candidates do not do well in the area, the Guardian notes, with the last Green to run there winning just 5.1 percent of the vote, but Sanders believes his name recognition will go a long way.

"Because of Bernard, I've become famous, and I will get more attention from the media, and that's to be used to get the Green Party's policies across," he said. "Bernard's campaign in America was a very successful shifting point."

"Our similarities in terms of policies are astonishing, partly because we talk all the time," he added.

Sanders will face off with Conservative candidate Robert Courts, Liberal Democrat Liz Leffman, and Labour's Duncan Enright. The election will take place on Thursday, October 20.

Sanders moved to Britain in the 1960s after studying at Harvard Law School.