Could Farage lose his seat to Count Binface? By-election descends into farce as everyone except comedy candidate pulls out

Nigel Farage’s big gamble in the by-election looks set to backfire today after the main parties vowed to ignore ‘the indicator’, leaving him pitted against Count Binface.

The reform leader will spend the summer fighting a comedy character on the streets of Clacton after trying to launch a ‘people versus order’ contest.

Mr Farage dramatically announced yesterday that he was seeking a new role as he struggled to evade a barrage of questions about his finances and an undisclosed £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire.

But Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party refused to survive any longer.

Instead they will await the outcome of an investigation by Parliament’s independent standards commissioner, which could lead to a new by-election within a few months.

Perennial innovator Binface, who describes himself as a 5,900-year-old space warrior and has policy pledges such as ‘nationalising Adele’, will be Mr Farage’s main rival this time. He joked: ‘Game on, Nige.’

Andy Burnham also had some fun at Mr Farage’s expense as Kemi Badenoch said Binface would be ‘the people’s candidate’. “It’s worth knowing when garbage day is,” he posted on X.

Although the possibility of victory seemed remote, bookmakers cut Binface’s odds from 50-1 to 5-1 overnight.

In another worrying sign for Mr Farage, a YouGov poll revealed that the public is strongly opposed to a by-election and does not believe he is being honest about his finances.

Mr Farage might have to contend with novelty candidate Count Binface (pictured at the Makerfield by-election), who joked ‘Game on, Nige’.

Count Binface is already undermining any chance of a showdown with Mr Farage

Mr Farage is being investigated by parliamentary watchdog Daniel Greenberg over a £5 million gift he claimed was needed to fund the personal security of cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne.

The reform leader also confirmed he was facing a further investigation over the support he provided to convicted fraudster George Cottrell, following a Sunday Times investigation.

Long-term ally Mr Cottrell reportedly hired and paid three people to work on Mr Farage’s social media before the general election and continued to let them use the five-storey Georgian property he rented near Buckingham Palace.

New MPs are required to register gifts worth more than £300 they have received in the previous 12 months, unless the gift ‘could not reasonably be considered by others’ to be related to their political activities.

Mr Greenberg’s investigation will be suspended following Mr Farage’s resignation, but will continue if he returns to Parliament.

If he is found to have breached the rules and is suspended for more than 10 sitting days, this could trigger a recall petition and potentially lead to another by-election in Clacton.

The MP maintains he has done nothing wrong and accuses Westminster opponents of using bogus investigations as a ‘political tool’ and the media of ‘promising’ his family.

After announcing he would make a statement about his ‘future in public life’, Mr Farage was flanked by Union flags as he gave a speech on camera that lasted more than 20 minutes without taking any questions.

‘In this by-election, there will be people against the establishment. “This is a chance to stick out two fingers to the entire establishment to clearly tell them where to go, and that’s why I’m going to put my name forward to be a candidate in this by-election,” he said.

Mr Farage, who later left Reform’s headquarters, admitted it was a ‘big gamble’.

But Ms Badenoch said her party would not participate in “a sham byelection where Farage distracts people from what’s going on”.

Stressing that if she lived in Clacton she would boycott the process and ‘have a lovely summer on the beach’, Ms Badenoch told Sky News: ‘Let’s see what kind of campaign Count Binface is running and who the establishment really is – if it’s about the people and the establishment, I think Nigel Farage might be like the establishment and Count Binface might be the people. So the whole thing is complete nonsense.’

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has called on the Government to block Mr Farage’s resignation, saying the people of Clacton need ‘all the facts’ before deciding whether they want to keep him as their MP.

The Labor Party described the contest as a ‘gimmick’, while the Greens confirmed they would not field a candidate.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme if he thought he could win the by-election, Binface said: ‘Probably not, but you know my job is to celebrate and defend the wonders of British democracy.

‘And look at this, huh? The fact that you are interviewing me on the Today Show because none of the other parties are standing says more about them than about me.

‘Are they afraid of old Binny, or do they think Nigel is pulling a cunning trick? And I said it carefully at 8.55am.’

The Reform leader said he had offered to pay the party for the vote – thought to be around £350,000 – after criticism that it was a waste of taxpayers’ money.

But the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government has poured cold water on the idea as it is banned under anti-corruption rules.

An MHCLG spokesman said: ‘To protect the independence and impartiality of the electoral process, it is clear in law that the cost of running elections must be met from public funds and not by candidates or political parties.

‘Individuals or groups can of course make voluntary contributions to the Consolidated Fund in the normal way, but these are not ring-fenced to pay for specific expenses or activities.’

A report in the Guardian that bankers submitted a suspicious activity report (SAR) to the National Crime Agency in May 2024 over concerns that a gift from Christopher Harborne could be money laundered has raised further questions.

Mr Farage told the newspaper he did not know about the SAR and said he had no reason to doubt the ultimate source of the money.

Polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice has warned that the upcoming by-election could end badly.

He compared this to David Davis’ decision to call a by-election in Yorkshire in 2008 because his detention period was extended without a hearing, and the Conservative MP was sent back unopposed.

Kemi Badenoch said her party would not take part in a “fake by-election where Farage distracted people from what was going on”.

Andy Burnham also mocked Mr Farage over by-election situation

Conservative MPs stand behind Count Binface in by-election clash

Asked whether Mr Farage’s resignation was ‘a gamble that will pay off’, Sir John told BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme: ‘It depends on what you think he is trying to achieve.

‘I think he’s certainly hoping for a by-election where he’ll be competing with all the other political parties so it’ll be a pretty significant political circus that will get a lot of attention, it just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen because it’s a bit like someone saying ‘let’s go play football’ but then none of the other kids are willing to play.

‘And at least to this extent it will probably result in a relatively moist crust, as was the case at Haltemprice and Howden.

‘However, two things were said; Of course Mr Farage will argue, it just shows that the other parties are afraid of me, they are not willing to challenge me.

‘This means he’s making headlines again. Reform is still ahead in the opinion polls, but with Labor’s slight rise following Keir Starmer’s resignation and the fact that support for Reform is slowly ebbing. He hoped the publicity would help push him up.

‘But that second thing, and I think it’s one of the risks he’s taking, is that he’ll probably be willing to talk about it during the by-election, given that he said I wanted the people of Clacton to judge my actions and, in particular, two controversial sources of support that have attracted media attention recently.’

Count Binface: ‘5,900-year-old space warrior’ who wanted to ‘nationalise’ Adele

Nigel Farage faces the prospect of running in a by-election against a self-proclaimed ‘intergalactic space warrior’ who wants to nationalize singer Adele.

Count Binface is set to become Mr Farage’s leading rival in Clacton after major parties refused to join the UK Reform leader’s ‘showdown’.

‘Leader of the Recyclones’, also known as Jonathan Harvey, is a regular novelty candidate in parliamentary competitions.

He last opposed Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election last month and has previously opposed former Tory Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak in their constituencies.

Mr Harvey opposed then Prime Minister Theresa May in his previous incarnation as ‘Lord Buckethead’ in the 2017 general election.

Count Binface is a so-called ‘space politician’ who claims to be over 5,900 years old.

She has previously vowed to ‘nationalise’ Adele as a ‘creative powerhouse and a one-woman GDP boost’.

During the Makerfield by-election, Earl Binface promised voters in the Greater Manchester seat that he would ‘cut your taxes and raise everyone’s taxes’.

He also promised to cap the price of Wigan Kebabs to £2, rename HS2 ‘FFS1’, force cyclists who break highway rules to ride a unicycle instead and build at least one affordable home.

Count Binface appeared in the final season of TV’s Industry in an episode of the BBC drama featuring a general election.

When he’s not dressing up as his intergalactic alter-ego, Mr. Harvey is a comedy writer, actor and producer.

He worked on TV shows The Thick Of It and Have I Got News For You and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe.