{"id":1145741,"date":"2026-08-13T06:55:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1145741\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T06:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:55:15","slug":"farage-and-count-binface-go-head-to-head-in-snap-uk-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1145741\/","title":{"rendered":"Farage and Count Binface go head-to-head in snap UK poll"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voters in eastern England head to the polls Thursday for a by-election triggered by hard-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, but amid a boycott by mainstream parties his main rival is a joke candidate called Count Binface\u00a0.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The traditional parties have shunned the contest for the Clacton parliamentary seat — represented by Farage since July 2024 — denouncing his move to resign and launch a new vote as a stunt.<\/p>\n

Polling stations open at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) with a total of 34 candidates in the running, forcing Farage to face off against dozens of fringe candidates, including Binface.<\/p>\n

Brexit backer Farage — whose anti-immigration Reform UK won local elections in May and topped national polls for 18 months from early last year — has remained defiant.<\/p>\n

He has framed the by-election as “the people of Clacton versus the Establishment”, branding newspaper probes and official investigations into his finances and questionable donations to his anti-immigration party as a “stitch-up”.<\/p>\n

“Britain needs Reform, Britain wants Reform, and Britain demands a general election,” he said in a statement late Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Farage is widely expected to retain the eastern Essex seat, which voted overwhelmingly for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, and political analysts have downplayed the vote’s wider significance.<\/p>\n

“It seems unlikely that the by-election will be consequential for British politics,” University of Southampton political science professor Will Jennings told AFP.<\/p>\n

“Victory won’t mean that questions about Farage or Reform’s finances will go away, so it seems most likely it will be a wasted summer for everyone,” he added.<\/p>\n

“When Farage returns to parliament afterwards we will be back where we started.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

– ‘Rather silly’ –<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Polls will close at 10:00 pm, with counting beginning immediately and a result expected by around 7:00 am Friday.<\/p>\n

Turnout — nearly 59 percent in the 2024 general election — could be significantly down given the lack of traditional candidates from ruling centre-left Labour and the centre-right Conservatives.<\/p>\n

Farage netted 46 percent of the vote two years ago to become an MP on his eighth attempt, securing a majority of 8,405. But comparisons may be complicated by the boycotts.<\/p>\n

Most of the candidates — the highest number of any parliamentary election — are standing as independents, and have led to a ballot paper which is nearly a metre long.<\/p>\n

Joke candidate Count Binface, who dresses with a grey dustbin over his head wearing a cape and silver armour, has captured global media attention and could snatch a fifth of the votes, according to a Survation poll.<\/p>\n

The self-styled “intergalactic space warrior” is part of a long British tradition of satirical election contenders, which appears to have reached its zenith in Clacton, where the Official Monster Raving Loony Party will also field three candidates.<\/p>\n

“Farage’s plan to turn this by-election into a serious political battle failed,” Queen Mary University of London politics professor Stijn van Kessel told AFP, noting the resulting spectacle “makes Farage look rather silly”.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

– ‘Misjudgement’ –<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Journalist Michael Crick, who wrote a 2022 biography of the Reform leader, agrees.<\/p>\n

“This has been a complete misjudgement by Farage,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “He’s hoping to become prime minister and Clacton is in no way representative of the country as a whole.”<\/p>\n

Farage shocked Westminster and beyond when he announced his resignation as Clacton MP — and intention to re-stand for the role — on July 7 following intense scrutiny of his and Reform’s finances.<\/p>\n

The parliamentary sleaze watchdog is investigating Farage and his deputy, Richard Tice, amid allegations they failed to declare financial gifts — including in Farage’s case a \u00a35 million ($6.7 million) donation from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.<\/p>\n

They deny any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, London police have confirmed starting an investigation last year into donations to Reform before the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n

UK media have reported it relates to non-declared financial support from longtime Farage ally and convicted fraudster George Cottrell and his mother.<\/p>\n

The controversies have coincided with a drop in Reform polling support and in popularity for Farage, long a divisive figure loved and loathed in largely equal measure.<\/p>\n

Luke Tryl, who heads the More in Common research non-profit, told AFP Farage’s core supporters “seem largely undeterred” but that newer Reform converts “might now be wavering”.<\/p>\n

AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voters in eastern England head to the polls Thursday for a by-election triggered by hard-right Reform UK leader…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1145742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[1500,748,1395,393,68176,474,113668,4884,13,113669,56961,113670,1501,1144,712,113671,79,1715,11567,16,15,1764,26],"class_list":["post-1145741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-breaking-news","tag-britain","tag-china","tag-england","tag-english-daily","tag-finance","tag-free-newspaper","tag-great-britain","tag-headlines","tag-hong-kong-media","tag-hong-kong-news","tag-hong-kong-news-media","tag-latest-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scotland","tag-sing-tao","tag-sports","tag-standard","tag-the-standard","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales","tag-world"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117086894636595739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1145741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1145742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1145741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1145741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1145741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}