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| Credit: Jdpfive |
LOL. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, recently triggered a by-election in his own constituency of Clacton by resigning as Member of Parliament, only to declare his intention to run for the seat again. In other words: the by-election is political theater, probably to deflect from various parliamentary inquires into Farage´s finances. Labour, the Tories, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Restore (!) have all declared that they will boycott the by-election. This has opened the field for various micro-parties and novelty candidates, with Count Binface as the apparent front-runner in the anti-Farage camp.
Yes, Count Binface. *That* guy again.
He unsuccesfully tried to challenge the next Labour leader Burnham in Makerfield recently, and it seems he has now taken his rubbish to Clacton instead. Ahem, don´t you actually have to *live* in the constituency the seat of which you are contesting? Still, Farage´s opponents are in on the joke. From Wikipedia:
>>>Many mainstream politicians reacted to Binface's candidature with a mixture of amusement and approbation.
>>>Kemi Badenoch, the Leader of the Opposition said that if the by-election was a "people versus the establishment" contest, Binface might be the people's candidate. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said he could not endorse him due to Labour Party rules. Andy Burnham, the favourite in the race to become the next Labour leader, posted a picture of himself shaking hands with Binface at a by-election.
>>>The New Statesman´s business editor, Will Dunn, endorsed Binface and called for a united front in support of his candidacy. Martin Bell, who served as the independent MP for Tatton between 1997 and 2001, called for voters in Clacton to rally behind "the right independent candidate". Stephen Pollard, writing for The Spectator, called the election a straight "two-way fight" between Farage and Binface, and speculated that the latter could win.
>>>Binface received a surge of support from activists after announcing his candidacy, raising more than £15,000 in donations in a day. He said he hoped to appeal to voters from all sides of the political spectrum and said he could even court the immigrant vote, given he was "the ultimate alien".Green energy industrialist Dale Vince, who has previously donated to the Labour and Green Parties, offered to fund Binface's campaign. His campaign gained global media attention.
The latter seems to be true, since I read (with some surprise) about Binface´s splendid intervention in a Swedish newspaper just now. Or rather at their on-line site. And no, I don´t think Harvey (the Count´s real name) can win over Farage, who carried Clacton with 46,2% of the votes in 2024. That being said, I admit this was a rather jolly little distraction!
