london —
Nigel Farage comfortably won a special election he triggered and will remain an MP after a campaign that was boycotted by all of Britain’s other major parties, leaving the main opposition party as a comedian dressed as a trash can.
Mr Farage, leader of the populist far-right Reform UK party, was ultimately re-elected by a wide margin with 22,239 votes, 1,000 more votes than he received in the 2024 general election.
His main opponent in the by-election, Lord Binface (a self-proclaimed intergalactic space warrior), received an incredible 9,455 votes, showing that there is a significant anti-Farage vote even in one of Britain’s most right-leaning regions.
Mr Farage, the country’s leading anti-immigration activist and architect of Brexit, claimed a landslide victory, posting on X: “The Clacton result speaks for itself.”
He was already an MP for Clacton but resigned from parliament in the wake of the by-election after facing unprecedented scrutiny over his finances. This scrutiny led to an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Committee, which resumed the inquiry after it had been suspended due to the election.
Mr Farage did not give a victory speech after refusing to attend the declaration, claiming police had warned him of a campaign to disrupt it. Essex Police said there were “no incidents or issues” and that it was up to “the individual and their security team” to decide whether to attend the count. It is extremely unusual for the winner of a by-election not to attend the vote counting. Another notable example is Bobby Sands, a member of the Irish Republican Army. He was elected to parliament in 1981, but at the time was in prison and on hunger strike.
“I came 1st in the Clacton by-election! Out of all the candidates who went out of their way to hear the results,” Vinface posted on X shortly after the results were announced.
“I have decided that the people of Clacton should judge my actions,” Mr Farage said at the time of the by-election, intending to appeal directly to voters and take on the establishment.
But the spectacle quickly became the subject of ridicule, with prominent British journalists such as John Sopel deriding the 33 new and fringe candidates challenging Mr Farage as a “circus”, while the Reformers’ insistence on finances persisted. Mr Farage has also faced criticism over the cost of holding such an election, which is expected to cost around 250,000 pounds ($338,000). The public is legally obliged to pay the money, despite Mr Farage’s protests that reformers will pay for it.
At the same time, Mr Farage faces both a split in his natural coalition of voters and a more formidable opponent in Britain’s centre-left new prime minister, Andy Burnham. Such headwinds are unfamiliar to the reformers, who have been dominant in the country, leading national opinion polls and winning historic local elections.
And if the ongoing investigation finds that he breached parliamentary guidelines, it would trigger a process that could eventually lead to a new by-election. Other major parties are also expected to field candidates on that ballot.
Mr Farage has been embroiled in electoral turmoil, but his grip on the electorate has also been shaken. Reform now faces a challenge from the right, with Restore Britain, a new party founded by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, siphoning off a small but significant portion of the electorate.
Mr Lowe, who has a long-standing feud with Mr Farage, was expelled from the party last year and later set up his own party at the urging of billionaire US businessman Elon Musk. Sensing an opportunity, Lowe seeks to form an alliance with Farage on the condition that Farage accept some of Restore’s more extreme policies. Mr Farage does not seem keen on putting the hatchet to rest so far.
Tim Bale, a professor at Queen Mary University of London who studies right-wing politics, told CNN: “Restore’s policies are so extreme that it will make the reforms less attractive to voters who are less interested in far-right policies overall, so it will be difficult to get a deal.”
All this is against the backdrop of the inauguration of a new national government. Labor leader Burnham is more popular than her predecessor Keir Starmer, returned to parliament earlier this summer and has already proven she is capable of reform.
In this by-election, all Farage has proven is his ability to defeat an intergalactic space warrior who knocked over a bin on his head. Of course, Count Binface doesn’t actually come from outer space. He is a satirical character created by comedian John Harvey and has run for office in several other elections.
“By August 13th, I want to make it absolutely clear that there is no place in the universe that is more important to me than Clacton,” he told CNN’s Max Foster from his Starship, which he said he had modified using a holodeck “to create the exact look of a budget hotel in Clacton.” Mr Farage did not respond to a request for an interview from CNN.
Vinface’s manifesto is full of national inside jokes, including a promise to “cut our taxes and raise others’ taxes”, nationalize singer Adele and “impose a windfall tax on cozy crime novels written (or ‘written’) by famous people”.
quirky costumes
Mr Binface is just one of a number of satirical candidates, dating back more than 60 years, who have become a distinctive staple of British elections. In the UK, almost anyone can run for parliament. All you need is a £500 ($675) deposit and 10 bid supporters, and you can make jokes and points without too much trouble.
This tradition took hold in 1963. At this time, a young musician later known as Screaming Lord Thatch ran in a by-election. He will contest a total of 41 seats, including against three incumbent prime ministers, and founded the official Monster Raving Looney Party in 1982, according to his website.
None of the party’s candidates, including Nick the Incredible Flying Brick and current leader Howling Loud Hope, have ever won a Westminster election. But it encouraged others to follow in its footsteps, with Clacton’s three candidates receiving a combined 61 votes.
Behind the jokes, some of the campaigns had serious messages, such as a man dressed as an animal rights fox who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Burnham when the former Manchester mayor returned to parliament in June.
Some of Thach’s policies were eventually passed, including lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 and legalizing commercial radio. Still, some scoff at the spectacle of unconventional candidates.
As for Binface, despite his pre-vote bravado, his vow to be a unified candidate was not enough to win.
