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Count Binface: Nigel Farage’s biggest nemesis since Brexit
Odds have been slashed on Britain’s ‘hottest new political property’
Count Binface had been “looking forward to a relaxing journey back to his home planet of Sigma IX” when Nigel Farage “dropped the “political bombshell” of his resignation as MP for Clacton-on-Sea, said The Guardian.
Britain’s “hottest new political property” said he was “left with no choice but to perform a swift intergalactic handbrake turn” and enter the by-election race. With the main parties all vowing to boycott the contest, the 5,900-year-old leader of the Recyclons could well be Farage’s only challenger.
‘Unity candidate’
Count Binface is the alter ego of Jon Harvey, a 46-year-old comedy writer whose credits include “The Thick of It” and “Have I Got News for You”. He first entered politics in 2017 as Lord Buckethead but, following a copyright claim over the character, re-emerged in 2019 as Count Binface.
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Since then, he’s taken on prominent politicians at the ballot box since 2019, running against Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham. He “earned plaudits” for winning more votes than the far-right Britain First candidate in the 2024 London mayoral election, said The Guardian, although he still lost his deposit.
The “satirical figure” is best known for his “rubbish-can-shaped helmet” and “absurd campaign promises”, said Al Jazeera. His manifestos have included pledges to cut the cost of the 99 ice cream with a Flake to 99p, abolish the House of Lords and rename London Bridge “Phoebe Waller-Bridge”. He has also previously promised to “bring back Ceefax”, “nationalise Adele” and “conscript anyone who plays loud music without headphones on public transport”.
For the Clacton election, Binface said he will “be a unity candidate”, pledging to “build at least one affordable house”. He said his main appeal this time round is that he’s “not Nigel Farage”.
Can he win?
Harvey has been “inundated” with emails and messages from Binface activists “offering to knock on doors and deliver leaflets on his behalf”, said The Guardian. His campaign “could yet emerge as an electoral shock” comparable to when Hartlepool United’s mascot, H’Angus the Monkey, was elected as mayor of the northern town.
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Indeed, odds on him winning have been “tumbling”. Oddschecker, which provides betting odds from some of the UK’s most popular bookmakers, said odds on the parody candidate winning had been slashed from 5/1 to 7/2.
For the man, “or rather the alien”, the “question of whether he might even win is one that he is reluctant to countenance”. He said: “It’s earliest days yet and there is a long old road to go, but if in the unlikely event that the humans of Clacton prefer me to old Nige, then I will do my very best to represent them.”
If he does win, on some sort of “Boaty McBoatface”-style jokey protest vote, he “would have to remove that striking silver headpiece”, said The Independent. MPs can’t wear headgear when they are addressing the House of Commons, and there’s also “ye olde restriction” that also bans them from wearing suits of armour in the chamber, which “rules out his intergalactic threads too”.
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
