THE NEW YORK TIMES: How Nigel Farage ended up running against Count Binface, a man dressed as a garbage bin

Count Binface, a man in a trash can costume, was trying to explain why he would be a winner no matter what happened Thursday in the highest-profile election he’s ever contested.

“Shall we do a little flowchart?” he asked me, gesturing with his gloved fingers.

If you haven’t been following British politics, you may be wondering why I was interviewing someone who claims to be an intergalactic space warrior from the planet Sigma IX. Binface is a character played by writer and comedian Jon Harvey, 46, and he has run in several elections as part of Britain’s long tradition of novelty political candidates.

Now he is heading for his biggest gig yet. He is the main opposition to Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing populist party Reform UK, in a special parliamentary election in Clacton, an area on England’s eastern coast.

Farage is expected to win in a landslide — he held the seat with a large majority until he resigned last month to force this vote. One recent poll suggested he could get 73 per cent. But though Farage has sought to frame this as a “people versus the establishment” election, all of the other major political parties have refused to take part. They called it a political stunt to distract from a parliamentary investigation into a gift of 5 million pounds (about $9.5 million) that Farage had failed to disclose.

Binface, who would be interviewed only in character, is Farage’s most prominent rival in the election, although 32 other candidates are running. Some are longtime Clacton residents, such as Nick Pelas, who has lived in Clacton-on-Sea for over a decade, while three represent the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, a group once associated with Britain’s most famous novelty candidate, Screaming Lord Sutch, who died in 1999.

If Farage “wins even with an increased majority,” Binface argued as he laid out his metaphorical flowchart, “but it is against 33 candidates including an alien shaped like a trash can, who’s won?”

Farage would of course disagree. Reform UK did not respond to requests for comment for this article, but previously, Zia Yusuf, a senior party official, told the BBC that the other parties were boycotting the vote because they were “running scared” of Farage.

‘I Have Done Nothing Wrong’

Binface’s moment in the national spotlight began last month, when Farage, who won in Clacton at the 2024 general election with 46 per cent of the vote, announced a surprise resignation. For weeks, Farage had been under pressure after revelations over his finances, including 5 million pounds he received from a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire. A parliamentary investigation had begun into whether Farage should have declared the gift, which he received in the months before the 2024 election.

Farage resigned July 7, before the investigation was complete, and said he would immediately run for the same seat, in an apparent attempt to reclaim the political narrative.

“Let me be absolutely clear: I have done nothing wrong,” he said, adding: “I have decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions.”

If Farage were found to have broken the rules, he could be suspended from Parliament and potentially forced to fight a second special election. All the other major parties said they would wait for the investigation to conclude, with the Conservatives saying they would contest any resulting election.

That left Binface, in his silvered helmet and cape, to face the Reform leader this time.

“The so-called mainstream parties have elected not to take part,” Binface said. “Either because they’re terrified by my magnificence,” or because “this is all actually a bit of a sideshow.”

‘Laugh at Politicians’

Any British, Irish or eligible Commonwealth citizens over 18 can run in a parliamentary election in Britain, provided they pay a 500-pound deposit and get the nominations of 10 people living in the area.

Over the years, British politicians have routinely shared the stage with novelty candidates in funny costumes, from Elmo to representatives of the Raving Loonies.

In Britain, said Ian Hislop, the editor of British satirical magazine Private Eye, it has long been understood that “it is as important to laugh at politicians as it is to vote for them.”

Binface challenged Rishi Sunak, the former Conservative prime minister. He ran against a previous prime minister, Theresa May, too, in a previous incarnation as Lord Buckethead, which he had to abandon over a copyright dispute. He ran in London’s mayoral election against Mayor Sadiq Khan. Earlier this summer, he ran in the Makerfield special election against Labour candidate Andy Burnham. Burnham, now Britain’s prime minister, won with 54.8 per cent, while Binface got 0.2 per cent.

Harvey, the human underneath the costume, attended the University of Oxford, where he studied classics. (In a recent appearance on the podcast, The Rest Is Politics, he let loose a stunning flow of Ancient Greek.) He has also worked on British satirical programs as a comedy writer, including for Armando Iannucci, the creator of the HBO series Veep.

As Binface, his usual campaign promises include building “at least one affordable house” — a jibe at the house-building promises of consecutive British governments, which never seem to be met. He also has a long-standing promise to nationalise Adele, and to “cut your taxes and raise everyone else’s.”

There’s a serious message underneath, about the absurdity of modern politics and the impossibility of trying to please all voters everywhere.

‘This Is Farage Country’

Clacton, a parliamentary seat centred around a faded seaside town, voted by a large margin for Brexit, Farage’s signature cause before the 2016 referendum. Farage has built a populist movement by railing against immigration and more recently promising a Trump-style program of mass deportations.

In 2024, Clacton elected him by a large margin, with a Conservative in second place. “This is Farage country,” said Keiran Pedley, the director of politics at the polling firm Ipsos.

Some voters in Clacton have expressed frustration at the focus on the current election’s two most notable candidates. Brian Porter, a gardener who has lived in the area for about a year, said he wanted to vote for someone local who understood the needs of the community. “You’ve got all these jokers,” he said, pointing to both Binface (“farcical”) and Farage, who he said was “using the election to actually hide his sins.”

“It’s becoming a laughing joke,” he added. “And it’s not. This is people’s lives. It’s our future.”

Binface’s strongest previous result was 1 per cent in the 2021 London mayoral election. A striking success for him here would be to exceed 5 per cent, at which point his 500-pound election deposit would be refunded.

Binface has spent time in Clacton campaigning, meeting residents and recording videos. He also released a more detailed list of campaign promises, including some Farage-specific ones. Lawmakers who resign midterm should be barred from the resulting special election, he said. He promised to “spend more time in Clacton-on-Sea than in Washington D.C.,” a nod to Farage’s friendship with President Donald Trump. And he pledged not to accept gifts of 5 million pounds “from crypto billionaires (on Earth).”

Even if Farage wins Thursday, as expected, he will have to face the outcome of the investigation into that gift.

Binface accepts that at that point, the media interest in his story is likely to die down. He admitted that it had delighted him: “This has been the biggest feeding frenzy for old Binny so far.” He was also keen to emphasise his regard for the democratic process, and for voters who decide to support Farage.

“He has a pitch which is very powerful to a certain part of the electorate,” he said. “We mustn’t disrespect that. If humans choose to vote for Nigel, that is democracy.”

But with the major parties absent, “I seem to be His Majesty’s opposition,” he said, from behind his bin. “Which is fine.”