Right-wing Reform UK leader Farage faces off with Count Binface in special election

Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s far-right Reform UK party, recently announced his resignation from Parliament. This triggered a special election in his constituency in Clacton on England’s southeast coast, in which Farage will run for re-election. Farage proudly describes himself as the chief architect of the UK’s 2016 “Brexit” from the European Union.

His party has posed a serious challenge both to the governing Labour and establishment Conservative party. Farage is considered a strong contender for Britain’s next Prime Minister. He has already been influential in pushing both the Conservative and Labour parties even further to the right. Fearing Farage’s rising popularity, successive Conservative and Labor governments have instituted increasingly xenophobic anti-asylum policies and hollowed out Britain’s once robust social welfare programs, including the popular but now underfunded National Health Service (NHS).

Farage has described his resignation and re-election campaign as an opportunity for his Clacton constituents to “stick two fingers up to the establishment”. However, the move is more widely seen as a distraction from various scandals facing him, including scrutiny over undeclared gifts of millions of pounds from a crypto billionaire. Both the Labour and Conservative parties are boycotting this election, describing it as a “stunt” by Farage. It’s equally possible they don’t want to face another potentially embarrassing loss to Reform, which has won seats from both the Labour and Conservative parties in elections all over the country.

“Not Nigel Farage”

There is at least one candidate willing to run against Farage and treat the election with the seriousness it deserves: Count Binface. Britain has a long tradition of satirical political candidates whose campaigns are opportunities to show up the absurdities of their opponents and of the political process as a whole. Binface (the intergalactic political alter ego of comedian Jonathan David Harvey) is currently the most well-known, having run vigorously but unsuccessfully in numerous elections, including several parliamentary contests and twice for Mayor of London. He is now the leading challenger to Farage in the special election.

Binface’s platform mixes serious social issues with satirical agenda items. He is a strong proponent of the NHS and has proposed that politicians’ pay be capped to match that of NHS nurses. He also advocates strongly for remedies to the cost-of-living issues plaguing Britain, including the lack of affordable housing. Other agenda items include: forcing rule-breaking cyclists to ride unicycles; banning the use of speakerphone functions on cell phones on public transport; and pledging to make controversial political commentator Piers Morgan “zero-emissions” by 2030.

While most don’t believe Binface will defeat Farage, he’s likely to win more votes than in his previous elections (usually numbering in the low hundreds). Asked recently what his main appeal to voters would be in the Clacton by-election, Binface answered, “I’m not Nigel Farage“.