One of the appealingly quirky features of UK politics is that pretty much anyone can stand for election to a parliamentary seat, provided that they can come up with 10 voter signatures in support and pay the required deposit of £500, which they lose if they do not get 5% of the total votes cast. This has resulted in novelty candidates, such those from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party (founded by the rock musician David “Screaming Lord” Sutch) and, more recently, Count Binface, an extra-galactic being who wears a costume consisting of a trash can on his head. They serve as outlets for protest votes for people disgusted with the system. These candidates typically stand only in constituencies where there is a high-profile major party candidate which will draw media coverage because the UK system is one in which all the candidates for a parliamentary seat line up on stage to hear the vote totals at the end, so you can see them close to the major political figures. In the past, Binface has stood against Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

They also sometimes get interviewed by major media looking for a light-hearted take on the election. Here is Binface interviewed by Sky News during the recent by-election in Makerfield that Andy Burnham won on his way potentially to the prime ministership.

His platform addresses issues that annoy people, such as “The use of the speakerphone function on mobile phones to be banned in public. Any offenders caught will be forced to watch the film version of Cats every day for a year”.

These novelty candidates typically lose their deposits but now there has come along a confluence of factors that may give them their best chance. What happened is that Nigel Farage, the leader of UK’s Reform Party has resigned his Clacton seat in parliament, triggering a by-election in which he is going to stand again. This is a political stunt by him because he has been getting hammered on all sides because of a mysterious gift of £5 million by a cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harbone.

When asked about the gift, Farage has given a variety of explanations about what it was intended to be used for. Initially he said the money was given to pay for his security, then he described it as a reward for campaigning for Brexit. In sometimes tetchy exchanges with reporters, he has since said it was “nobody’s busines” what he did with the money, and that he could spend it on Ferrari sports cars if he wanted to.

Jonathan Pie explains Farage’s strategy in resigning.

Farage has disingenuously insisted that the money was not a bribe and that there was no quid pro quo to the money and that people have every right to give him money and that he has every right to spend it as he wishes. But that has not quelled the uproar and so he resigned his seat, thinking that it would defuse the controversy and that winning re-election would show that the people were on his side. But all the other major parties (Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens, and even the more extreme Restore Britain) have said that they will not go along with this charade and give legitimacy to Farage and so will not field candidates.

This leaves a wide opening for Binface who has said that he will stand in the by-election and has urged people to vote for him for their protest vote, saying “I will be a unity candidate and pledge to build at least one affordable house. Nigel Farage says he wants the people versus the establishment. So be it. Leave him to me.” Farage, like his idol Trump in the US, is a highly divisive figure in terms of his xenophobic and generally reactionary politics, and as arrogant and unlikable as a person. Thus in this election people can vote for Binface without fearing that they are harming the party that they would normally vote for. It is a no-lose proposition. So rather than the election providing Farage the legitimacy he seeks, he will now be forced to campaign against a candidate who wears a trash bin on his head. Binface is already drawing a lot of media attention as the main alternative to Farage. Here he is interviewed by the BBC.

And here he is interviewed by Andrew Marr on a popular news program.

I hope that they will have debates, though Farage will probably decline.

So people of Clacton, vote for Count Binface! You have nothing to lose but Farage.

And of course, Monty Python did a sketch on the way that the returning officers have to read the results with straight faces..