Zürcher Nachrichten - Farage vs Count Binface: hard-right leader's UK poll gambit

His surprise move threatened to backfire Wednesday after other heavyweight parties confirmed they would not contest the vote for Farage's seat in southeast England.

Count Binface, a self-described "intergalactic space warrior", is the only other person to have said so far that they would run.

- What did Farage announce? -

In a televised address on Tuesday, the leader of the hard-right Reform UK party said he was resigning as the member of parliament for Clacton, the constituency he has represented since July 2024.

The shock announcement came as Farage is the subject of a parliamentary probe over the non-disclosure of a £5 million ($6.6 million) donation from Thailand-based crypto-currency billionaire Christopher Harborne.

The donation was made shortly before Farage was elected an MP and was revealed earlier this year by The Guardian daily, which reported Tuesday that bankers raised concern with the National Crime Agency that it may have been laundered money.

Farage, whose party leads national opinion polls, also faces scrutiny over separate alleged gifts from George Cottrell, a 32-year-old crypto entrepreneur previously convicted of fraud.

Farage insists he has done nothing wrong and accused opponents in parliament of using sleaze investigations as a "political tool" against him.

In showmanship typical of the 62-year-old Brexit campaigner, Farage said he would seek re-election, pitching the vote as a "people versus the establishment by-election" fight.

- How did other parties react? -

But his plans appeared in disarray after the ruling Labour party, the main opposition Conservatives, centrist Liberal Democrats, and fringe parties the leftwing Greens and far-right Restore Britain announced they would not field candidates in the by-election.

Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Farage's move a "desperate stunt" from someone "up to his neck in sleaze", while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded it a "fake by-election" designed to cause a distraction.

Rupert Lowe, who split from Farage last year and formed Restore as a far-right alternative that has eaten into Reform's support, called the proposed poll an "unnecessary sham".

- What could happen next? -

One person has come forward to declare he will challenge Farage: Count Binface, the alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey, who regularly runs in UK elections with his trash-can shaped head and long cape.

"I will be a unity candidate and pledge to build at least one affordable house," he wrote in a post on X on Tuesday, adding of Farage: "Leave him to me."

Binface won 95 votes, a 0.2 percent share, when he ran against Britain's likely next prime minister Andy Burnham in a by-election in Makerfield near Manchester last month.

His manifesto for that campaign included forcing cyclists who break traffic laws to ride unicycles instead, and capping the cost of a croissant at £1 ($1.3).

Another possibility is that a serious independent candidate announces a run, similar to former BBC journalist Martin Bell who successfully won a parliamentary seat in 1997.

Polling expert John Curtice told the BBC that Farage had been hoping for a "very substantial political circus" but may end up with a "relatively damp squib" if no one challenges him properly.

- If Farage wins, then what? -

Farage's decision to step down means the investigation by Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, into the Harborne donation is suspended.

The government on Wednesday granted Farage's request to quit and a by-election should take place within 35 days.

"If he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won't stop him," finance minister Rachel Reeves said on X.

Farage comfortably won Clacton in 2024 with a majority of 8,405 and more than 46 percent of the vote.

If he is re-elected then the probe would likely start up again.

If Farage is found to have breached the rules, he could be suspended from the House of Commons, and another by-election may be triggered.

T.Gerber--NZN