On 7 July, following the launch of an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Nigel Farage resigned as an MP. In the same video address, he declared he will re-stand in the ensuing by-election in his constituency of Clacton.
“The people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” Farage asserted as part of this piece of political theatre.
His ‘actions’ in this instance are – in case anyone forgot amidst all the bluster – accepting a secret £5 million ‘gift’ from billionaire crypto-financier Christopher Harborne, which just so happened to precede Farage’s lobbying in favour of crypto markets!
Harborne has since denied any allegations of corruption and cronyism, stating the money was to fund Farage’s “personal security costs”.
Sleaze and stagnation
No doubt the Reform UK leader is now hoping this political stunt will keep his anti-establishment credentials intact, by distracting from the scrutiny of a public investigation.
Posing himself as the ‘real’ democrat for the British public to rely on, Farage even explicitly stated in his address that this by-election he has triggered will be the “people versus the establishment”.
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So far, it’s unclear whether this gamble will pay off or not.
Reform has already been falling in the polls for some months. In a recent YouGov poll, 73 percent of people said they would describe Nigel Farage as “sleazy” – including 40 percent of Reform voters.
And, according to the same survey, more people now consider Farage’s Reform to be the ‘party of sleaze’ than they do Labour.
The fact that Farage cynically leapt on the recent murder of former-MP Ann Widdecombe to justify his outrageous “personal security costs” cover story belies some anxiety around Reform’s stagnant polling figures.
Count Binface
And yet, despite all of this, Farage is still predicted to hold his Clacton seat come 13 August.
This is in no small part down to the fact that all of England’s major political parties – Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems, and the Greens – have left the field wide open. Every single one of them has refused to stand against Reform.
In boycotting this sham by-election contest, the mantle of Farage’s most prominent opponent has been left to satirical candidate Count Binface, who stands for policies such as “restoring the price of a 99 Flake to 99p” and “building at least one affordable home”.
Westminster politics is a farce at the best of times. It’s no surprise, then, that 33 percent of those surveyed nationally say they would like Count Binface to win over Farage. A single affordable home – finally a promise that a politician may actually keep!
In an interview on BBC Newsnight, the Count did admit he is yet to have visited Clacton. But he explained he was only following the example of “the current incumbent” in this, who seems to “spend more time in Washington DC”.
Amidst a buzz of national and international media attention, Parliament has been forced to clarify that, should he win in Clacton, Count Binface would not be allowed to sit in the House of Commons in his full space suit and with his bin head.
In an interview on LBC, Binface was unconcerned at the prospect of this spanner in the works: “Well, Commons rules are very clear about what you can do with donations – but that seems to have got all murky,” he pointed out.
Pantomime politics
Those at Reform UK are yet to see the funny side of the Farage vs. Binface showdown, however.
Reform MP Robert Jenrick has gone on air to decry the Binface campaign as a ‘stitch up’ by an establishment “too cowardly” to face down Farage themselves. And, ironically, prominent party supporters are even demanding to know where the Count’s funding comes from!
Count Binface remains undeterred. “My job,” he told journalists, “is to demonstrate that British democracy is wonderful and unique. Anyone can stand to be an MP.” That a man posing as an “intergalactic space warrior” with a bin on his head is currently in the running for a parliamentary seat is certainly proof of this.
It’s also proof of just how far the disillusionment towards the pantomime in British politics goes these days.
The ‘choice’ facing voters – in Clacton and at every election – is an utter joke. All of the mainstream politicians are liars and crooks. Nobody trusts any of these racists, thieves, and warmongers.
Workers and youth should unite and fight to put all of them – and their rotten system – in the dustbin of history.
