Whatever the result of tomorrow's by election in Clacton, it will be an embarassment for Nigel Farage who won't get what he wants no matter the result or how he tries to portray it.
Due to his own ego and self-interest, taxpayers' money has been wasted on an unnecessary political stunt called in the constituency after Farage decided to quit, not because he'd had enough of politics, for we all know Farage has never really been interested in his constituents, jetting off around the globe to meet the likes of Trump, but because Farage launched a stunt to save his own skin.
The charlatan has seen his party's poll lead collapse in a number of polls, trailing both the Tories and Labour in the latest YouGov poll, while his party rips itself apart. Far from the victory that he thought was so inevitable at the next general election, Farage now faces the prospect of a defeat.
He thought the by-election would allow him to reframe the debate and dominate the headlines, instead Farage has found himself wrong footed by political circumstances.
Whatever the result tomorrow, his party is now trailing in the polls, and his only way out seems to be trying to form a pact with Restore, whose leader he unceremoniously kicked out of Reform in a public feud. Now he wants us to believe it was not his choice to quit but rather that he was 'forced out by the political establishment'.
Farage maintains he has done nothing wrong and wants to recontest his seat to let voters judge his actions. Nigel Farage’s decision to resign his seat in the Commons and trigger a by-election followed months of political controversy sparked by reports published by The Guardian and the BBC on 29 April. The reports, published days before voting in Council elections in England and in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd elections, revealed that Farage had received a €5 million gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor and the wealthiest British-born person on The Sunday Times Rich List
When the story broke, Farage argued the funds were a gift intended to pay for personal security and a ‘reward’ from Harborne for his leadership in the Brexit campaign. He insisted that there had been no need to declare the funds as he had not been a member of parliament at the time they were received.
On 30th April, the Electoral Commission indicated that it was contemplating an investigation into the matter. With elections a week off the timing could not have been worse for Farage and the Reform Party.Less than a week after the elections the UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards announced its intention to open an investigation into whether Nigel Farage should have declared the money he had received after he had returned to Parliament as an MP in 2024.
During the Makerfield by-election in June, the Labour Party used the publicity surrounding Harborne’s funding to attack Farage and Reform. The Labour Party chairperson Anna Turley, a long-standing ally of Andy Burnham wrote to Nigel Farage urging him to “stop evading reasonable scrutiny” over the €millions received from Christopher Harborne. In the letter Turley suggested: “It’s time (Farage) ended his deafening silence and came clean with the public as to what’s going on here, he can’t keep dodging questions and changing his story.”
On 5 July the Sunday Times broke another story on support received by Farage revealing he had been provided with staff, support to boost his social presence, security, and accommodation by George Cotterell.
Cotterell a British cryptocurrency entrepreneur and a long-standing Farage ally had been convicted by the US authorities in 2017 of wire fraud. Two days later, on 7 July Farage announced that he would vacate his seat to trigger a by-election which he would recontest, saying the “people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions”.
Immediately after Farage announced his decision something of a consensus began to emerge that he had made a huge miscalculation. Much of the UK mainstream media were scathing of Farage’s decision portraying it as an act of desperation.
The by-election was characterised as a ‘circus’ with Farage as ringmaster. The Economist characterised the decision as a blatant attempt to distract. The BBC questioned whether Farage’s resignation was “honourable or a psychological game”.
The main political parties in the UK decided against contesting the by-election. A labour Party spokesperson called the by-election a “circus” and made it clear that the Party would not stand a candidate. The Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Farage of triggering the by election for his personal advantage rather than to serve the people of Clacton who “deserved better representation” .
The Conservative Party would not contest the be-election because it would not dance to Nigel Farage’s tune”. In a letter addressed to the voters of Clacton Ms Badenoch accused Farage of calling the by-election “not to help you, but to help himself”, suggesting: “Mr Farage wants the people of Clacton to settle his problems for him”. She promised that when the investigation process has run its course “and there is a genuine contest, we (the Conservatives) will be there”.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey said there should be no by-election until the funding accusations against Farage were fully examined. Announcing that his party had decided not to contest the by-election Davey urged all parties to “stand aside and refuse to give oxygen to Farage’s vanity project”.
The leader of the UK Green Party Zack Polanski. Dismissed the by-election as “a desperate stunt from a desperate politician whose lifetime of grifting is finally catching up with him” and announced “the Greens will play no part in (Farage’s) political circus.But when the major political parties denounced Farage’s move as a political stunt and boycotted the Clacton-on-Sea election in southeastern England, a trash-talking comedian named Binface was launched into prime position as default challenger.
After the chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves accepted Farage’s resignation, she said: “If he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won't stop him.”
The man who hopes to be the U.K.’s next prime minister is probably going to retain his seaside fiefdom of Clacton .but his self-styled “people versus the establishment” electoral gambit is sowing some seeds of discontent even among loyal supporters. Fear of Clacton becoming a “laughing stock” is a common refrain at this current time .
Farage, leader of the far-right Reform UK party, faces 33 other candidates in the record-breaking contest in Clacton, but his most prominent challenger is Count Binface, the satirical alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey. Farage triggered the vote by resigning as Clacton’s member of Parliament on July 7 over mounting scrutiny over his financial affairs.
The result is expected in the early hours of Friday after polls close at 10 p.m. Thursday. The only published poll of the constituency, conducted by Survation in July, put Farage at 73% and Binface at 20%.
Farage, who has framed the investigation into him as an “establishment hit job” and a media-driven “witch-hunt,” argues that the voters who elected him should decide whether he did anything wrong.
“The people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” he said. “This will be a people versus the establishment by-election.”
But the absence of the main parties has weakened that argument. Instead, the ballot includes a collection of smaller parties, independents and novelty candidates, producing a record 34-person field.
Count Binface, who has run against prime ministers past and present, was the first to throw his bucket in the ring when Reform UK leader Nigel Farage abruptly quit Parliament and said he would seek re-election to clear his name over financial allegations.
“Game on, Nige,” Binface declared soon after Farage, portraying himself as the victim of a witch hunt, said he would represent the people against the establishment.
And as the major political parties denounced Farage’s move as a political stunt and boycotted the Clacton-on-Sea election in southeastern England, the trash-talking comedian was launched into prime position as default challenger. He has been on a nonstop media blitz since. “I’m the only fresh thing on the menu,” Binface told The Associated Press on a day of interviews with reporters from Japan, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. “You’re all sick of these politicians, as good as they’re trying to be, but you know you need something different, a little bit of secret sauce.”
Under Binface’s black cape, rubbish bin and ample body armor that looks straight out of a low-budget sci-fi film is a middle-aged comedian named Jon Harvey trying to keep his cool during a sweaty summer. You’d never know who was in there from talking to his alter ego. Binface never breaks character, and he delivers snarky ripostes when challenged to lift the lid. “Has anyone here seen ‘Return of the Jedi’?” he asked a BBC host in reference to the “Star Wars” sequel in which Darth Vader is unmasked. “Nobody wants to know what’s under the recycling. ... It’s absolutely putrefying.”
Harvey is a married father of two who grew up in London and studied the classics at Oxford. He has been a TV writer on the political comedy “The Thick of It” and the humorous news quiz “Have I Got News for You.” He’s the author of a sports memoir written after his brother’s death, as well as Binface’s memoir: “What on Earth? An Alien’s Guide to Fixing Britain.”
In a country where almost any adult citizen can run for office — regardless of where they live — eccentric candidates are a celebrated electoral tradition. On the 3-foot-long Clacton ballot, there are no fewer than three members of the Monster Raving Loony Party, including Nick the Incredible Flying Brick and Baron von Thunderclap.
Harvey’s turn in politics began almost a decade ago when he blasted to Earth from the so-called planet of Sigma IX as Lord Buckethead to run for the House of Commons seat then held by Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May. She won handily, but Binface rocketed to fame and landed on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
But the use of Buckethead, borrowed from a “Star Wars” parody, ended in “an unfortunate battle on the planet Copyright.” He was reincarnated as Binface to take on Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
He twice challenged London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who proclaimed in his 2024 victory speech that he was the first person in British politics to win successive victories over Binface. “Believe me, he made me work hard for it,” Khan quipped.
In June, Binface lost a parliamentary special election to Andy Burnham, who quickly replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister when Starmer was forced out after Farage’s party battered his Labour Party in local and regional elections.
Binface, leader of the “Recyclons” on his home planet, continues to reuse items of past campaign manifestos that feature a mix of absurd and hyperlocal policy offerings that don’t necessarily resonate with a global audience.
Among the more relatable points, he promises to “cut your taxes, and raise everyone else’s,” build one affordable home and nationalize singer Adele. One item that has raised some eyebrows is a vow to relocate the hand dryer in the men’s restroom at the Crown & Treaty pub in Uxbridge to a more sensible location.
“Do you want to be using the urinal and have another human blasting your bits with insanely hot air?” he said. His main selling point is that he’s not Farage, though he has opted not to directly attack his main opponent. Instead, his platform takes not-so-subtle digs at the populist often pictured with a pint of beer.
In reference to the gift Farage didn’t declare when he was elected, which is the source of a parliamentary investigation, Binface said he would not accept 5 million-pound ($6.7 million) gifts from “crypto billionaires (on Earth).”
He would also bar members of Parliament who resign midterm from running in the subsequent by-elections and promised to spend more time in Clacton than Washington, D.C., a reference to Farage’s trips to the U.S., where he considers President Donald Trump an ally. Binface, if elected, has no interest in dealing with Trump: “He’s awful.” But he would “love to cement” the so-called special relationship between Britain and the U.S. “with a galactic union.” “You’ve still got the Atlantic Ocean. I can’t do much about that, but yes, I’d love to foster better relations,” he said.
With Farage’s popularity collapsing across the country, Britons nationally want a victory for Count Binface and to me this makes perfect sense, I of course, fully endorse and hope that Count Binface can hand Farage the most humiliating defeat in British political history and end his political career for good.
There are people in the UK who don’t know where their next meal is coming from and Farage this fraudulent grifter is trying to tell us he has our backs and understands.Farage has no actual policies, he only offers a lot of noise, with no substance at all.
His party is off the scale - of corruption, of advertising spending, of lies and propaganda, of departure from any semblance of the truth. Nigel Farage would also like to have voters believe that he is "anti-Establishment". But you only have to look at the wealth within Reform's leadership team (Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Zia Yusuf are all millionaires or multi-millionaires) and how many Tory defectors the party has absorbed to know that's not true.
Fuck off Farage we don’t need your faux fawning and divisive hate. Your just a stooge. I refuse to support a fake, opportunist, con artist playing a politician, fighting a bin, while his little band of sycophants are frantically posting their support as though the fate of Western civilisation depends on it.
The rest of us are simply waiting for this charade to finish so the standard probe into Farage can get back underway. Tomorrow lets hope Claction puts Farage in the Bin and the Bin in Parliament!
Whatever happens on Thursday Farage will always be remembered as the guy who had to throw everything at it to beat a man with a bin on his head, and once the people of Clacton have voted, they’ll never see Farage again as he will be off to the USA again to suck up to Trump.
Even if this conman grifter who has done nothing for Clactonians wins the by-election, hopefully it will mark the beginning of the end for Farage and Reform and it couldn’t happen to a nastier more divisive lying party.
