BRITISH POLITICS LATEST descent into the absurd will reach new depths later today, as Nigel Farage looks to retain his seat in parliament by fighting off a challenge from a man wearing a rubbish bin on his head.

Count Binface, who calls himself an “intergalactic space warrior”, is the most high-profile of 34 opponents on the metre-long ballot paper for the vote, which was triggered when the Reform UK leader resigned in a shock move.

None of the UK’s main political parties has stood a candidate, having dismissed the election as a stunt designed to stall a parliamentary inquiry into Farage’s finances.

Street art by The Rebel Bear, in a style reminiscent of Banksy, depicts Count Binface with Nigel Farage in a rubbish bin near Clacton Pier during the final week of the by-election campaign. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The vote takes place in the south-east England constituency of Clacton, a Reform-leaning seaside resort in Essex where roughly 78,000 people are eligible to vote.

While it’s expected that Farage will win comfortably, the withdrawal of the likes of Labour and the Tories has cast a different spotlight on the election, potentially backfiring on the anti-immigration party leader.

Why is this election taking place?

This vote was triggered after Farage dramatically resigned from his seat last month, only to declare in the same press conference that he would contest the resulting byelection.

Before resigning, Farage had been facing growing scrutiny over the non-disclosure of gifts – including a £5 million (€5.85 million) donation from crypto-currency billionaire Christopher Harborne and non-declared financial support from convicted fraudster George Cottrell.

MPs are obliged to declare any financial support they received up to a year before their election.

But Farage claimed the donation from Harborne was a gift for his security made before he became an MP.

“The people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” he said.

A parliamentary investigation into the £5 million gift has been paused since Farage stood down as Clacton MP, but can be reactivated if he wins. 

Who is the man beneath the bin?

Farage’s main opponent in the upcoming Clacton byelection is parody candidate Count Binface.

He has called this election contest “a freak”, due to the circumstances in which it was called and the refusal of the rest of Britain’s major parties to stand a candidate.

Nonetheless, Binface – the alter ego of comedy writer Jon Harvey – has promised to “make Clacton clean” if elected.

Between the random gags, such as claiming he will nationalise singer-songwriter Adele, he’s taken jabs at Farage’s financial troubles.

This has included a recent election song released on social media where, to the tune of Divine Comedy’s National Express, Binface questioned “unconditional gifts” that come “with a curious whiff” – a clear dig at Farage.

Harvey, 46, is a University of Oxford Classics graduate who has written for popular satirical television programmes including The Thick of It and Have I Got News for You.

Since 2018, he has contested elections against former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, consistently drawing thousands of votes and extensive media coverage.

His manifesto pledges have included forcing water company bosses to swim in polluted rivers and banning loud snacks in cinemas.

“I pledge to build at least one affordable house,” Binface joked in his Clacton manifesto.

And as Britain’s political landscape fragments, Binface has become more than a comic sideshow.

For Farage, “while it’s embarrassing for him to win against a dustbin, and not the mainstream parties, he will return as MP,” said Catherine Barnard, a political expert at Cambridge University.

But she added there “are some indications that Nigel Farage is worried that he will not win as comprehensively as he wants to”.

The result will be announced in the early hours of Friday morning.

With reporting by PA and AFP