Parody candidate Count Binface has become the main challenger to Nigel Farage in the forthcoming Clacton byelection after other major parties announced they would boycott the contest. Farage resigned as MP for the constituency on Tuesday, triggering the poll amid a deepening scandal over financial gifts.
Binface, the alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey, is a veteran of British elections, having previously run against former prime ministers Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Theresa May under the name Lord Buckethead. He had been planning a return to his home planet of Sigma IX when news of Farage's resignation broke.
“I didn’t know old Farage was going to self-detonate … did I?” Binface said, adding that he felt compelled to perform a “swift intergalactic handbrake turn” to stand again. The 5,900-year-old leader of the Recyclons said he was inundated with offers of support from activists keen to campaign on his behalf.
Binface is expected to appeal to disillusioned Reform voters and others who would have backed Labour, the Conservatives or other parties had they fielded candidates. “When you think about it, you can see why I might court the immigrant vote in fact. I’m the ultimate alien, though I should stress, not an illegal one,” he said.
Although Farage remains the favourite, odds on Binface winning have shortened from 5/1 to 7/2. Binface admitted he knew little about Clacton but was pleased to learn it has a pier. “I have heard it’s on the sea and I have heard it has got a pier … and the people are not necessarily all as Brexity,” he said.
