What next in by-election farce, Reform root through Count Binface's bin?

In stepping down from the Commons, the Reform leader was hoping to move the news narrative on from non-disclosure of a £5m gift from convicted criminal George Cottrell to a story of his own success.

And success seemed guaranteed. Farage won the Essex seat with 46% of the vote in 2024, and with Reform riding high in the national polls it seemed a low risk that any of the major parties could overcome him.

A victory in Clacton over Labour, the Conservatives and others would allow Farage, according to Farage at least, the chance to say the public do not care about the financial scandal and that they back him to the hilt.

It's another question as to whether Clacton represents all the British people and there is also the matter that this by-election will allow Farage to, at least momentarily, avoid an investigation into his finances. There's also the matter of whether he will constitutionally be allowed to run at all. But let's park that for the time being.

In choosing (for now) not to stand candidates to face Farage in Clacton, the other major parties have called his bluff and refused to turn a needless by-election into a month-long debate on Reform's favourite subjects.

Farage, instead, has nobody to debate with and no opponent to criticise. Except, of course, he does.

On Tuesday night, in the hours after Farage had announced the by-election, the only other candidate to have declared was the novelty candidate Count Binface.

And as of Thursday lunchtime, with no other names on the ballot, the Farage v Binface election has proved a rare moment of unity across (most of the) Commons' benches, as Kemi Badenoch, Sir Ed Davey and Rachel Reeves all take turns to mock the idea of the Reform leader debating with a bin at a hustings.

But for Reform, Binface has now presented a genuine problem. Farage could have foreseen a by-election win as a chance to grandstand, and a loss to a mainstream party as a chance to show his supporters proof that the deep state is in action. A win against a novelty candidate would be a shallow opportunity to at least claim that he had beaten those in front of him... But a loss to Count Binface? This would surely be game over for Farage. You don't come back from that.

With a month to go, it is possible other candidates could declare. But in a two-horse race, many in Clacton might vote for the non-Farage option as an ironic anti-establishment choice.

Binface's odds have shrunk from 20/1 to around 13/2 at the time of writing - and Farage now surely cannot afford to not take him seriously.

And here the by-election campaign might take an even more farcical turn. Does Reform now begin a spin campaign against Binface? Does Reform look into the Count's spending and who his donors have been, arguing that of course, the public might not care about how Farage gets his £5m gift, but Binface... Now that's a matter of public interest!

Or do we get the ultimate, more Thick of It than The Thick of It, farce and see covertly taken photographs of Reform staff digging for dirt on Binface by going through his, well, bins?

Now we are reaching 'you couldn't make it up,' territory, the Binface by-election will at least make a never-ending and ever-grey political scene a little more fun over the summer. Farage will probably win the vote, but convincing people that this has been anything but a humiliation will be harder.

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William Mata is a writer and LBC SEO Editor

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