The UK Parliament’s Clacton by-election looks likely to be one of the most bizarre ever staged.
One of Labour’s biggest donors has pledged to fund novelty candidate Count Binface in his Clacton by-election battle with Nigel Farage.
Dale Vince, a green energy tycoon who has donated huge money to Labour since 2013 via his Ecotricity business, has contacted the self-described intergalactic space warrior’s agent and offered to support him.
Count Binface, whose real name is Jon Harvey, is the leading opposition candidate to Farage.
The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton on Tuesday amid an investigation into donations he received. All the major political parties have refused to stand candidates against him in the resulting by-election.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Vince said: “I want Binface to win, and I am prepared to support him – morally, verbally and financially if that works for him.”
If Vince wanted to run an anti-Farage campaign in Clacton, he could only spend £700 (BD350), according to the electoral commission. But he could donate up to £180,050 (BD90,000) to Count Binface to spend on campaigning materials during a by-election.
The intervention came after Farage admitted he had been caught off guard by Labour, the Tories, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and Restore Britain all refusing to stand.
Farage is being investigated by the parliamentary authorities for donations he has received, including a gift of more than £5 million (BD2.5m) from Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency billionaire.
Allegations have also emerged that he received undeclared gifts and payments from George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster, for which he could also be investigated.
Farage insisted he had ‘done nothing wrong’ and that voters in Clacton, not the media or a parliamentary committee, should be ‘the judges of my actions’.
However, he faces a weeks-long contest against Count Binface and a handful of minor parties.
Count Binface has laid out his manifesto. He said: “I pledge to build at least one affordable house. I will nationalise Adele ... I’ll make water bosses have to take a dip in British rivers to see how they like it.”
“The underlying serious point, of course, is that this is probably more trustworthy than any of the guff in most ‘serious’ manifestos,” the UK Telegraph’s John Curtice suggested.
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