Britain backs Count Binface to beat Nigel Farage in Calcton by-election, poll shows
British voters would prefer Count Binface to claim victory over Nigel Farage in the upcoming Clacton by-election, according to a new poll.
Looking at the decision between the two candidates, 33 per cent of British adults prefer Count Binface to win the race sparked by Mr Farage’s shock resignation this week, while just 21 per cent back the Reform UK leader.
Meanwhile, an Ipsos poll found that 32 percent want neither of them to win.
Bookmakers have reduced the odds of the run-of-the-mill joke candidate beating Mr Farage in the by-election in Clacton earlier this week after all the major parties refused to take part in what they called a “sham” election.
Satirist Count Binface, who promised to abolish VAR in football, recruit people who play loud music on public transport and “nationalise Adele”, has now emerged as his main rival.
The comedian, who has been described as an “independent space warrior” and wears a bin on his head, has contested several elections, including contests against Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, and most recently the byelection in Makerfield, where he received 95 votes.
Mr Farage’s decision to push for a contest follows ongoing questions about the £5 million donation he received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne and the gifts he received from George Cottrell, a convicted criminal.
He is currently the subject of an investigation by Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg into whether his failure to declare money he claimed was a “gift” when he became an MP in 2024 breached Commons rules.
The Ipsos poll also found that 74 per cent of voters believe the parliamentary standards committee should investigate whether the Reform UK leader broke parliamentary rules, and 73 per cent say the investigation should continue even if Mr Farage wins the by-election.
Commenting on the findings, Keiran Pedley, director of research at Ipsos in the UK, said: “Of course, it will be the people of Clacton who will vote in the upcoming by-election, not the public at large.
“But the fact that only one in five Britons prefer Nigel Farage to win reflects how his personal poll scores have fallen over the past year, even as Reform supporters remain far behind him.
“Elsewhere in the poll, we see strong support for parliamentary standards investigations to continue even if Mr Farage wins the by-election. Claiming his presumed victory will not make these problems go away.”
Mr Farage dramatically announced he would quit parliament and call a by-election in the seat of Clacton; he would oppose it after claiming that he himself was the victim of “regular stitching”.
The Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Labor announced they would not contest the by-election, with Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch describing it as “sham” and Sir Keir Starmer calling it a “desperate political stunt”.
Reform UK has been topping the polls for months and Mr Farage appears to be gaining support from his former constituency of Clacton, but a YouGov poll of British adults shows he views the party as “shoddy” more than Labor or the Conservatives.
73 per cent of Britons think the leader of Reform UK is of poor quality, while 69 per cent of people say the same of his party, according to a new YouGov poll.
Around 56 per cent classify Mr Farage as “very sleazy”, while a further 17 per cent describe him as “fairly sleazy”, while 40 per cent of those who voted Reform at the last election today view him as sleazy.
