Reform UK leader Nigel Farage beats Count Binface in widely mocked
British election
[August 14, 2026]
By BRIAN MELLEY
LONDON (AP) — Nigel Farage beat trash-can wearing comic candidate Count
Binface to regain the seat in Parliament he quit a month ago to trigger
the widely mocked special election.
Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party who some see as a
possible next prime minister, abruptly quit his seat in July amid an
investigation into whether he failed to report a 5 million pound ($6.7
million) gift from a crypto billionaire overseas.
He said he would run for the open seat to prove he had voters’ support,
and regained it with 63% of Thursday's vote. Binface, who finished in
second, won about 27%, according to the results announced Friday. The
election, held on the hottest day of the year so far, had turnout of
44%.
Binface, a serial candidate who has challenged prime ministers past and
present, became the default challenger in a field of 34 candidates after
the major parties boycotted the campaign as a political stunt by Farage.
Farage hailed the result as an “overwhelming win” with 1,000 more votes
than he earned when first elected two years ago with 46% of the vote
share. Turnout during the 2024 general election was nearly 60% and he
faced a more robust field of mainstream candidates.
“Today the voters in Clacton have stuck up two fingers to the entire
political establishment,” Farage said, referring to the British
equivalent of a crude gesture that employs the middle finger in other
cultures.
The victory by Farage showed his strong support in his conservative
constituency on the east coast of England but it doesn’t ensure he’ll be
able to keep the seat. An investigation by a parliamentary watchdog that
was suspended when he stepped down is likely to resume and could still
lead to Farage being forced out of Parliament to face yet another
election.
Farage is a no-show at vote count
Farage declared victory in the early morning and did not attend the
official declaration where he would have had to stand alongside the
other candidates, many of them running joke campaigns.
“I’m damned if I’m going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding
victory ... and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” Farage told
supporters at a victory party.
Farage said he didn’t attend because police told him about an “organized
campaign to disrupt and degrade the result.” A spokesperson for Reform
said there was a credible threat against him, though police disputed
that.
Binface, who ran on a wacky platform that included a vow to “cut your
taxes, and raise everyone else’s,” build one affordable home and
nationalize singer Adele, celebrated his best-ever result. It was a
massive increase from the votes he received in a special election two
months ago against now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham, in which he won 95
votes.
“So against Nigel Farage compared to Andy Burnham, I am 1,000 times more
popular,” he quipped. "Does that have anything to do with why he isn’t
here tonight?”
Farage still faces investigation over undeclared donation
Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the election was no
victory for Farage and he needs to come clean over his finances and
relationship with a convicted fraudster.
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Britain's Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage arrives at a polling
station in Walton on the Naze, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026 to cast his
vote for the Clacton on Sea by-election.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)
“The mountain of sleaze and scandal he and Reform are now engulfed
in has grown and grown while he’s been trying to distract the public
by fighting a by-election against a bin,” Phillipson said. “Farage’s
distraction by-election doesn’t clear his name — it just shows he
likely has so much more to hide.”
Parliament’s standards watchdog is investigating an undeclared
donation to Farage in 2024 from Christopher Harborne, a
Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire. Farage says he didn’t
need to declare the money because it was a personal gift he used to
fund his security and was made before he was elected.
However, newly elected lawmakers must declare gifts worth more than
300 pounds ($400) received in the previous year if they are related
to political activities.
When he resigned on July 7, he described the scrutiny as an
“establishment hit job” and a media-driven “witch-hunt.”
Farage also faces an investigation into his financial relationship
with George Cottrell, an aristocratic crypto-gambling entrepreneur
who served eight months in a U.S. prison for fraud a decade ago
after offering to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug
traffickers.
Cottrell, 32, remains close to Farage and has reportedly given him
money for security and staff.
Farage, who was a major player in getting Britain to vote to leave
the European Union a decade ago, has had strong polling nationally
though his numbers have slipped during months of scrutiny of his
finances.
Binface led a pack of comedy candidates
Farage’s gambit to resign and run again backfired when other parties
refused to participate and he was left facing a massive field of
independent and small-party candidates, including novelty acts such
as Howling Laud Hope of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and
Marcus White from the Everyone is God Party.
Binface, who was already a running joke in British elections, drew
the most attention because of his satirical spin on politics and
persona as a space alien from the planet Sigma IX.
By winning at least 5% of the vote, he's earned a refund of the
deposit of 500 pounds ($675) candidates pay to run.
Under the black cape, trash can helmet and ample body armor straight
out of a low-budget sci-fi film, Binface’s alter-ego is Jon Harvey,
a middle-aged comedian who has spent much of the campaign trying to
keep his cool during a sweltering summer.
He said his repeated candidacies were aimed at promoting the beauty
of Britain’s centuries-old democracy where even the most
high-profile politicians are above no one — including someone from
outer space.
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