Count Binface declares himself ‘the winning candidate who bothered to turn up’ as Farage ‘humiliated’ in Clacton

Count Binface declares himself ‘the winning candidate who bothered to turn up’ as Farage ‘humiliated’ in Clacton ‘Over one in four people in this constituency would rather have Count Binface as their MP than the leader of Reform UK, and I’m just getting started’, the joke candidate said - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Count Binface said he was “the winning candidate of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results” in the Clacton by-election and that the result had “humiliated” Nigel Farage. The joke candidate managed to sweep up over 20 per cent of the ballot with 9,455 votes to Mr Farage’s 22,239 - far more votes than Count Binface has received at any other election. He received a higher vote share than Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens combined in 2024, and nearly equal to the vote share of the Tories. Posting a video to X in the wake of the results, Count Binface said: “I can officially say that I am the winning candidate of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results. “That’s right, 9,455 actual votes. Just eight weeks ago in Makerfield, I got 95. “That means I’ve got against Nigel Farage 10,000 per cent more votes than I got against Andy Burnham. What does that tell you? “Well, it tells you that Nigel, who said that he didn’t want to be humiliated, maybe has been.” He added: “As for me, I’m over the moon. I’m over your moon. I’m over my moons. And what comes next? Well, we shall see. “But you know what? We know this for a fact. Over one in four people in this constituency would rather have Count Binface as their MP than the leader of Reform UK, and I’m just getting started.” Pollster Sir John Curtice said voters turned out in “numbers that are quite healthy by the standards of modern by-elections” in Clacton, pointing out that Mr Farage did not do as well as David Davis, who won 72 per cent of the vote in 2008, “in the one by-election that is most similar to this one”. After forcing the contest with his resignation last month amid ongoing scrutiny over his financial affairs, the Reform UK MP refused to attend the count in the Essex constituency over disputed claims of a “credible threat” against him. Speaking at "Farage fest", an event several miles away from the count in the Essex countryside where he stayed for the entire evening, Mr Farage told supporters the police had told him about an "organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result". Reform UK said overnight that police had told him not to attend the count due to a “credible threat” against him. However, The Independent understands that Essex Police did not advise any candidate not to attend the count. Mr Farage celebrated his win with a one-line post on X, featuring a photograph of him taken at the overnight “Farage-Fest”. “The result in Clacton speaks for itself,” he wrote. Sir John told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “The argument that was being used by Farage’s opponents is this was a stunt; it was a farce, as exemplified by the fact that Count Binface was seemingly his own serious candidate. “Reform will now be able to point out not only as a result of the high turnout, the number of votes that they’ve got, but that also that evidently at 44 per cent, the turnout is 10 points above what happened in David Davis’s by-election. “It’s not much below what it was in either Runcorn or Gorton and Denton in the by-elections there, and it was actually higher than the two parliamentary by-elections in Scotland recently. “Therefore, I think they will be able to argue that, for the voters at least, it is not obvious that they regarded this as a stunt or a farce. “They did turn out in numbers that are quite healthy by the standards of modern by-elections.” Labour said the Clacton by-election was “no victory for Nigel Farage” and “shows he likely has so much to hide”. Bridget Phillipson, the party’s chairperson, said: “Let’s be clear: this is no victory for Nigel Farage. 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. “This morning, Nigel Farage shouldn’t be celebrating – he should wake up and smell the coffee. He must come clean with the public and put all the facts on the table over his secret £5 million gift, his relationship with a convicted fraudster, and the other scandals his Party is drowning in. “Farage’s distraction by-election doesn’t clear his name – it just shows he likely has so much more to hide.” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments