UK’s Nigel Farage regains parliamentary seat, fights off Binface challenge

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage won his self-triggered by-election in southern England on Friday, but saw his strategy to silence critics backfire when his main rival, Count Binface, a comedian dressed as a trash can, took more than a quarter of the vote.

In a highly unusual move, Farage, one of Britain’s leading Brexit campaigners, did not turn up at the vote count in the southern English seaside resort of Clacton because, he said, ‌the police had advised him there was a campaign to disrupt the result. He also cancelled a victory speech planned for later on Friday.

“I am damned if I am going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory … and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” Farage told supporters at a party before the result was announced.

The election was triggered after Farage resigned from parliament last month to seek a renewed mandate from voters in what he described as a war against an establishment bent on discrediting him with accusations about his finances.

The result, while a victory, underscored the political risks of Farage’s gamble. With the resumption of a parliamentary investigation into his taking undeclared gifts from donors, the vote did ⁠little to remove a threat he wanted to sideline.

After Britain’s main parties pulled out of the race, calling it a self-serving stunt, Farage’s main challenger ended ‌up being Count Binface, a figure created by comedian Jonathan Harvey, who has become a fixture of fun at British elections.

While Farage took 62.8 per cent of the vote, Count Binface, whose policies included capping the price of ice cream cones and conscripting anyone using a speakerphone on public transport, secured 26.7 per cent. The ‌turnout was 44 per cent.