NIGEL Farage could be left to fight a by-election against Count Binface after all major parties refused to stand against him in Clacton.
Labour, the Tories, LibDems, the Greens, and Restore Britain have all ruled out standing a candidate against the Reform UK leader after he announced his resignation as an MP on Tuesday.
The SNP have said the prospect of Farage “debating a bin all summer” is the “perfect symbol of broken, Brexit Britain”.
It comes after further revelations about Farage's finances in the 12 months before he became an MP.
Only Count Binface, who describes himself as an intergalactic space warrior and whose policies include building one affordable house, has said he would put himself forward.
He told BBC Breakfast that he would have to get 10 nominations from local “inhabitants” in Clacton to back him, adding: “Hey, there’s no guarantee I’m standing in the election as I’m sure you know, I’m game.”
Count Binface told the programme: “I will tailor my manifesto to the local area as always but most of my national policies will remain. Building at least one affordable house, nationalising Adele, bring back seatbacks, and of course, moving the hand dryer in the gents toilets in the Crown and Treaty Pub Uxbridge to a more sensible position, because as you know it’s a national issue.”
He conceded that he probably wouldn’t win the by-election, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that his job “is to celebrate and defend the wonders of British democracy”.
Bookmakers have slashed odds on Count Binface’s chances after all major parties refused to stand.
“The UK state is in terminal decline and the architect of Brexit scrapping it out with a bin sums up the decay,” SNP MSP Calum Kerr said.
“Scotland’s future is as an independent nation within the EU – that’s our only path to a Farage free future.
“We are hurtling towards a Nigel Farage-run regime and right now we are bystanders as a by-election in Clacton takes centre stage and Andy Burnham pontificates on Scotland’s constitutional future behind closed doors.
“Through a fresh start with independence we can escape the chaos and rot of Westminster and use our energy resources to build a wealthier Scotland anew – that’s the prize that lies before the Scottish people.”
Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said that Farage’s plans were a “desperate stunt”, adding that the Reform UK leader’s “lifetime of grifting is finally catching up with him”.
“Greens will play no part in his political circus and instead remain laser-focused on winning in the Greater Manchester by-election,” he added. “If you want to send a message to the establishment, the best way is by voting Green and ignoring Farage’s sideshow.”
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described Farage’s by-election bid as a “political tantrum” and that he has chosen to “disrespect the people of Clacton by just doing this”.
“This is a stunt that is all about his own interest,” she told BBC Breakfast. “It’s not about the people of Clacton. It’s not about the country. He was elected in a General Election.
“He is only doing this because he wants to somehow distract from what is simply the proper application of the rules and I don’t think that is fair on the people of Clacton.
“But that is the responsibility of Nigel Farage and not anybody else.”
It comes after Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast that she believes Farage has been given “some kind of alert” as to the standards investigation into his conduct.
Noting that she had gone through the process herself, Phillips said: “They tend to send you a sort of summary for you to go back and counter, quite early on, and that’s usually a couple of weeks or so before anything gets published or decided or whether it goes to the standards committee etc.
“So he may very well be in possession of the standard’s commissioner’s papers as well.”
It comes as Zia Yusuf – Reform’s home affairs spokesperson who is not an MP – claimed that Farage was not attempting to evade questions by calling a by-election amid scrutiny over his finances.
He told the Today Programme that Farage had not given evidence to a parliamentary standards investigation about a £5 million gift he had received from a wealthy backer, nor had answered questions about support he had received from long-time ally and convicted criminal George Cottrell since that story broke.
“Nigel will answer those questions, that is clear. He’s already said that he will,” Yusuf said.
“The reason that he has made the decision that he has is because the most serious sanction that parliamentary standards can impose is, of course, a suspension long enough such that a parliamentary by-election would be called if there was a recall petition.
“So what he has done is say: ‘Let’s go directly to that ultimate source of truth.’
“I know a lot of people in the establishment are uncomfortable with that, because for somebody to do what Nigel has done, whether you like him or not, it takes courage, and that’s obviously a word that can’t be associated with almost anybody in politics these days, sadly.”
