Nigel Farage beats Count Binface in Clacton By-Election
By Abbie Gargett
Nigel Farage has won the Clacton-on-Sea seat with 63.3% of the votes, ending one of the strangest by-elections in British history. Despite the absence of all major parties, there were 34 candidates, including many satirical candidates and serious independents. Most notably, one with the alter-ego ‘Count Binface’, who came second with 26.9% of the vote.
Farage triggered the by-election last month when he resigned from parliament, amid inquiries into a £5 million gift he received. He then announced he would run in the by-election he just triggered. The major parties all decided not to stand in the by-election in protest, leaving an opening for many serious and novelty candidates to also try their luck in Clacton.
The most popular was Jon Harvey, who ran under his previously used alter-ego, Count Binface, a 5,900-year-old intergalactic space warrior. His manifesto included policies such as, “I will cut your taxes, and raise everyone else’s,” and attacks on Farage such as, “I will not accept £5 million gifts from crypto billionaires (on Earth).”
Daniel Pocock ran as a serious independent candidate in the by-election, winning 16 votes. “I was well aware of my right as a Commonwealth citizen to be a candidate in the by-election, and I thought, well, why not?” he said.
When asked about Count Binface, Pocock said, “That's a welcome part of democracy.” But not everyone agreed. Conservative peer and columnist Daniel Hannan wrote in The Telegraph, “Binface… is more like a licensed jester for the broadcasting establishment.”
When asked about the election results, Pocock said, “There was a huge amount of media favouritism towards Binface…. the media coverage got him started, then the first past the post system creates psychological pressure in the mind of the voters to make a tactical vote.” Unlike Australia, the UK system doesn’t allow voters to rank their preferences of candidates, and each voter can only vote for one person. Pocock said the system, “resulted in some people who might have voted for another local candidate in sympathy for Farage.”
Despite winning, Farage did not attend the declaration of the results. Speaking to supporters at a Reform UK event before the announcement, he said, “I am damned if I am going to stand on stage, having won a resounding victory… to be humiliated by nobodies.” He was sworn into Parliament on September 1 and, according to the official UK Parliament website, the investigation into Farage remains ongoing.
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