Image shows one of many Count Binface appreciation groups on Facebook.
By Charlotte Ndupuechi.
British politics has always had its fair share of colourful characters, but the Clacton by-election feels like something lifted straight from an episode of Black Mirror.
Facebook groups have sprung up in support of Count Binface, and the bookmakers have shortened the odds on the silver-helmeted satirist causing an upset. The internet has exploded with memes, campaign videos and fundraising efforts – all of which I’m enjoying very much.
But who is actually taking politics less seriously? The politician being investigated over an undeclared £5 million gift? Or the man wearing a bin on his head?
Nigel Farage insists the £5 million gift from cryptocurrency businessman Christopher Harborne was a personal gift to cover security costs following threats against him and that it did not need to be declared. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is investigating the matter, and Farage denies any wrongdoing.
But here’s where this story begins to feel less like Westminster and more like dystopian fiction.
By resigning as MP and immediately standing again, the parliamentary standards investigation has been paused until after the by-election. Whether that is simply how the rules work or a loophole being exploited is for others to decide, but to me it looks remarkably like someone using the political system to their own advantage.
Meanwhile, the public picks up the bill.
Estimates suggest this by-election could cost taxpayers around £348,000. If Farage returns to Parliament and the investigation ultimately leads to a suspension long enough to trigger a successful recall petition, Clacton could even face another expensive election.
That doesn’t feel like democracy at its strongest. Perhaps that’s why Count Binface has struck such a chord.
Behind the silver bin is Jonathan David Harvey, a satirical writer who has spent years exposing the absurdities of British politics through comedy. Before becoming Count Binface, he stood as Lord Buckethead until a copyright dispute forced him to reinvent the character.
The more I see of Count Binface, the more I like him.
Take his proposal that water company bosses should be forced to swim in the rivers and seas their companies have polluted “to see how they like it”. A policy I suspect many of us could get behind.
Then there’s his promise to build “at least one affordable house”. It sounds ridiculous until you stop and think about it. Across the country, housing developments are approved with promises of delivering affordable homes, only for those numbers to shrink or disappear altogether. After years of ambitious housing pledges that many people feel have failed to deliver, his satire shines a light on those broken promises.
That’s what makes it so effective. It takes a genuine public frustration, exaggerates it just enough to make us laugh, and then leaves us with the uncomfortable realisation that he might actually have a point.
Farage has spent years presenting himself as the anti-establishment outsider. The England shirt. The pint in the pub. The cigarette. The image of a man standing shoulder to shoulder with ordinary people against Westminster.
But after more than 30 years in frontline politics, a private education at Dulwich College, and a career in the City as a commodities trader before entering politics, I struggle to see how anyone can still describe him as anything other than part of the political establishment.
To me, the anti-establishment image has become a carefully crafted political character – perhaps even more carefully constructed than Count Binface himself. I’m just as likely to believe Count Binface is from outer space as I am to believe Nigel Farage is a working-class man of the people.
The irony is extraordinary. One candidate openly admits he’s playing a character. The other insists he isn’t.
Clacton is a constituency where many people face genuine deprivation, low wages, poor health outcomes and a shortage of affordable housing. These are communities crying out for investment, opportunity and visible leadership. During the two years Farage has represented Clacton, I struggle to identify any lasting positive impact his tenure has had on the area. Critics have also questioned his engagement with the constituency, arguing that local people deserved a more visible and accessible representative.
If British politics has reached the point where an MP can resign, pause a parliamentary standards investigation and leave taxpayers to foot the bill for a by-election, is the man wearing a bin on his head actually the more serious choice for the people of Clacton?
When we’re left asking ourselves which one is the comedy candidate, perhaps the political system has already given us the answer. Maybe it has become so absurd that we’re no longer watching satire – we’re living in our own episode of Black Mirror.
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