“Game on, Nige.” With those two words, the serial election candidate Count Binface—real name Jonathan Harvey—threw his bin-shaped hat into the ring after Nigel Farage announced he would quit his Clacton constituency and trigger an August by-election.
Binface, who appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, is one of the few people prepared to run against the Reform UK leader after Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all said they would not field candidates. His platform? “Get at least one affordable house, nationalising Adele and bring back Ceefax.” Laurence Fox is also expected to stand.
“Count Binface challenges Nigel Farage in Clacton by-election as mainstream parties boycott the contest.”
In Clacton, voters are deeply divided over what Farage has called a battle between “the establishment and the people”. Sam Borgman, who programmes electronics in racing cars, said: “I think it’s good he’s called an election. It shines a spotlight on him and exposes his motives. It’s Wizard of Oz stuff, style over substance. I think having a man with a bin on his head as his rival is possibly the contempt he deserves.”
Earlier in the day, Farage staged a brief media event in Frinton-on-Sea. Philippa, a resident who previously voted Liberal Democrat, described the scene: “He looked rather rattled I thought, quite severe. It was quite extraordinary, just this wall of people in suits coming towards us just walking along; he wasn’t engaging with people.” Another voter, Nick, said: “It’s a stunt, I think he has overplayed his hand. I suspect he had come back from the 250th celebrations in the US after meeting Trump people who told him: ‘You should go direct to the people’.”
Just two years after being elected an MP for the first time, Farage’s gamble comes amid questions over his leadership finances. The constituency, before 2024, was a safe Conservative seat held by Giles Watling, who won with a 24,700 majority in 2019—a majority wiped out when Farage ran. “He will win, of course,” Watling said.
The by-election has also forced Reform supporters elsewhere to contemplate a future without their leader. In Romford, Howard Mann, 56, said: “I just think they’re doing, or saying, the right thing.” William Jarvis, 71, a bricklayer, cited immigration: “We need to spend time on our own people.” Kumar Rama, 56, a security consultant, said: “If the ideology runs through the party, then yes, why not?”
But the question lingers: if Farage—facing investigation by parliamentary standards authorities over gifts and donations, and showing increasing impatience with scrutiny—leaves frontline politics, who would replace him, and would Reform survive without him?
