Farage dominates Clacton by-election, Binface surges and 32 others trail

Clacton by-election results: The winners, surprises and losers Right-wing political leader Nigel Farage has comfortably held on to the seat of Clacton, but the result was not quite the victory he had hoped for. The anti-immigration Reform UK leader won 22,239 votes, or 62.8 per cent, securing a second term after triggering the by-election himself. But the real surprise was comedian Count Binface, who claimed 9,455 votes, or 26.7 per cent — by far his strongest result in a parliamentary election. The by-election was triggered after Mr Farage resigned from parliament last month amid a parliamentary investigation into whether he should have declared gifts from wealthy backers. With Britain's major parties choosing to sit out the contest, which they called a self-serving stunt, Mr Farage had been hoping to turn the vote into a show of strength against what he cast as an establishment campaign against him. Instead, the contest produced a bizarre two-way race, with a record 34 candidates on the ballot and the satirical Count Binface taking more than one in four votes. Here's who came out on top and who didn't. Nigel Farage — 62.8% Read more22,239 votes (62.8 per cent) Mr Farage has comfortably retained the seat he first won at the 2024 general election. The Reform UK leader triggered the by-election by resigning last month while facing an investigation into whether he should have declared a 5 million pound ($9.3 million) gift from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. Mr Farage said he wanted a fresh mandate from voters and framed the contest as a battle between the people and an establishment determined to discredit him. He got his mandate, but the result has come with the awkward caveat that a man dressed as a bin emerged as his main challenger. And while Mr Farage won by more than 12,000 votes, Count Binface's extraordinary performance ensured the Reform leader did not get the clean political victory he had been seeking. Count Binface — 26.7% Read more9,455 votes (26.7 per cent) The biggest surprise of the night was not a mainstream politician, but a self-styled 5,900-year-old space warrior in a bin. Count Binface, the alter ego of comedian Jonathan David Harvey, secured almost 27 per cent of the vote — more than 9,000 votes and vastly more than his previous parliamentary best of 308. His campaign mixed satire with genuine policies, including a cap on the price of ice-cream cones and bus fares, and conscription for people who use speakerphones on public transport. The result makes Clacton by far his strongest parliamentary performance and turned what was expected to be a comfortable Farage victory into a much stranger political spectacle. Best of the rest After Mr Farage and Count Binface, there was a very long drop. The next four candidates collectively received just 1,642 votes. John Stevens: 492 votes Read moreRejoin EU candidate John Stevens was the strongest of the candidates outside the Farage-Binface showdown. A committed advocate for the UK's re-entry into the European Union, he founded and formerly led the Pro-Euro Conservative Party. He famously received more votes than Farage in the 2010 Buckingham election. Tony Francis: 432 votes Read moreIndependent candidate Tony Francis narrowly took second place among the best of the rest. He ran a campaign based on teachings from the bible, presenting himself as the only "real choice" in the by-election. Pamela Walford: 371 votes Read moreIndependent candidate Pamela Walford was the third-highest polling candidate outside the two frontrunners. She ran her campaign independently, using social media to promote her bid for the Clacton seat. Laurence Fox: 347 votes Read moreActor-turned-politician Laurence Fox finished fourth among the best of the rest. The founder of the right-wing Reclaim Party has built a political profile around opposition to what he describes as woke politics. His best-known role is James Hathaway in the television drama series Lewis (2006-2015). The rest and the very bottom The remaining 28 candidates each received fewer than 300 votes. Australian-born candidate Daniel Pocock received just 16 votes, while the three Monster Raving Loony Party candidates collectively managed 61. At the bottom of the pile were independents Woke Trump Carzee, with eight votes, and Glenn Cummings, with seven. With 34 candidates competing, the 90-centimetre-long ballot may have been crowded, but the result was anything but close.