Nigel Farage's main opponent in an upcoming special election may be a man who wears a helmet shaped like a trash can. With the main parties refusing to field candidates in the upcoming Clacton by-election, parody contender Count Binface is emerging as the right-wing Reform UK leader's most prominent challenger, the Telegraph reports. Farage quit as Clacton MP on Tuesday amid a probe into large donations, including $6.7 million from crypto investor Christopher Harborne, while denying any wrongdoing.
Reform wants the vote held on August 6, but Labour and the Conservatives say they won't contest what Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called a "fake by-election," hinting they'd only step in if a standards ruling later triggers a formal recall. The Liberal Democrats, the Greens, and the far-right Restore Britain party have also said they won't field candidates against Farage, ITV News reports. That leaves Farage facing novelty candidates like Count Binface, who has previously taken on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
The self-styled space warrior told the BBC that he U-turned his "starship" to stand in Clacton and pitched his key selling point as: "I'm not Nigel Farage." His tongue-in-cheek manifesto includes capping croissant prices, nationalizing the singer Adele, banning MPs from quitting early, and building "at least one affordable house."
- "Labour isn't going to be part of this circus," said Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. "I hear it's the people versus the establishment—a City trader, Putin-admiring professional politician who is pals with crypto-billionaires, versus Count Binface."
- Binface told the BBC that he probably won't win, but his job is "to celebrate and defend the wonders of British democracy." He added: "The fact that you're interviewing me on the Today program because all the other parties aren't standing says more about them than it does about me. Are they running scared of old Binny, or do they think Nigel's running a cunning stunt? And I pronounce that carefully at 8.55 in the morning."
- Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves confirmed that she would appoint Farage to the ceremonial office of Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead, a procedural move that allows him to resign and contest the by-election. "It is a farce and a desperate distraction, and the people of Clacton deserve better," she said on X. "But if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won't stop him."
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