On Tuesday 7 July, Nigel Farage instigated what’s shaping up to be the most pointless by-election in history. It may also be the strangest, because Farage’s opponents are set to be Count Binface and professional divorcee Laurence ‘wasteman’ Fox:

Nigel Farage and his colleagues are setting themselves up for a month of this. And they genuinely expect people to let them run the country. https://t.co/bVwyMqhR8t

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) July 8, 2026

Farage: get in the bin

Usually when an MP steps down, it’s because they want to step down. Farage, meanwhile, is set to contest the seat he’s just made available.

If you’re wondering why he’s doing this, we’ve covered it here. The summary is that he seems to be trying to deflect from his many ongoing scandals. If anything, though it seems like all this will just shine a brighter light on his financial activities.

Because this by-election is a bit of a farce, the major political parties have all pulled out. As we reported, we think it would have been wiser for the Greens to stand, and to spend the next 6 weeks driving the news cycle. Instead, they’re leaving it to Count Binface – seemingly at his direction:

Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens: I demand you stand down in Clacton. 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.

— Count Binface (@CountBinface) July 7, 2026

This does look pretty embarrassing for Farage, to be fair:

What’s genuinely funny is to see how Reform and their supporters cannot adjust. They have one pitch – all out, hysterical attack. They’re literally arguing with a bin. And they can’t recalibrate.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) July 8, 2026

Binface has clarified how he intends to beat Farage:

Count Binface asked on the Today programme what his appeal is in Clacton?

“I’m not Nigel Farage,” he says.

Also repeats pledge to nationalise Adele.

— Ashley Cowburn (@ashcowburn) July 8, 2026

In the same interview, Binface noted that BBC Today were interviewing him instead of the other party leaders, because he was the only one standing. Who could have seen that coming, eh, the Green Party?

The Greens are claiming they’re not running because the local party doesn’t want to:

“Our local party have decided that we won’t be standing a candidate in the by-election.” – Hannah Spencer outlines the Greens position for the Clacton by-election, arguing that Farage’s decision to trigger it will create turmoil for Clacton’s constituents. pic.twitter.com/kJa9ra0cYf

— The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) July 7, 2026

This is democratic, if so, but still – the national party would have made significant gains by being the only serious opposition to Reform in Clacton. They didn’t even have to win; they just needed to grab headlines by drawing attention to Farage’s endless scandals.

Anyway, forgetting all that, Binface is on the move at least:

On my way, Clacton. pic.twitter.com/R4pgCJu0T0

— Count Binface (@CountBinface) July 7, 2026

And Binface isn’t the only one.

Not like a fox

While there’s speculation that Binface wears some sort of helmet, we’re told the thing atop his shoulders is actually his biological head. This is in contrast to Laurence ‘Fox’, who isn’t actually a small canid, despite his profile picturing him as one:

Why do right-wing men love crap AI so much?

That’s a rhetorical question; they love it because they don’t have to pay a creative person to create it for them.

Back to Fox’s profile, you’ll notice the man represents the ‘Reclaim Party’. This is one of the many right-wing ‘Re’ parties we have in Britain, with the more successful variants being Reform UK and Restore Britain.

Reclaim describes itself as following:

Laurence Fox set up the Reclaim Party in October 2020 after appearing on BBC Question Time in January that year. For challenging the woke orthodoxy of “white privilege” and “systemic racism” he was cancelled from a 22-year acting career.

This experience changed Laurence’s life overnight – and now he is dedicating his life to protect others from being prevented from contributing to the national debate.

Laurence not only realised freedom of speech was under grave peril: it became clear our media hates our country and culture, and we’ve been betrayed by careerist, so called liberal politicians.

If we’re reading this right, it’s a party for failed actors who want the state to force studios to hire them again?

The most niche party in Britain, in other words.

Fittingly, this description sits besides an image of Fox on his own yelling to no one:

Fox has tried and failed to become a professional politician before – not that he’s jealous of those who’ve achieved what he never will:

“Protector of are women” and serial loser who lost his deposit, Laurence Fox, calls female MP, Hannah Spencer, a “retard” after she was successfully elected.

Our women and girls have to fight off disgusting misogynistic freaks like Laurence Fox every single day. pic.twitter.com/PsYRzvNRFf

— thelefttake (@thelefttake) March 13, 2026

Some have suggested Fox might split the vote:

A selfish move from Fox.
He’s going to split the Count Binface vote! https://t.co/51JE8LwvEU pic.twitter.com/NyudjVLrIj

— Higgins Cartoons (@higginscartoons) July 8, 2026

We suspect that Binface will handily beat Fox, although the two have fought each other to a draw before. As the Independent wrote in 2021:

Novelty candidate Count Binface is tying with anti-lockdown activist Laurence Fox in the London mayoral contest, new polling has found.

The former Lewis actor – who launched his Reclaim Party campaign last month with a promise to “unlock” the capital from all Covid rules – has only 1 per cent support.

Count Binface, the satirical politician created by comedian Jon Harvey, and the Ukip candidate Peter Gammons are also on 1 per cent backing in the race, according to the Savanta ComRes poll.

Given that the other parties aren’t running – and that Britons regularly vote tactically against Reform in by-elections – we imagine many voters will throw their weight behind Binface. It’s hard to imagine Fox enjoying something similar, because he’s not really offering anything different to Farage besides his own personal man-pain.

Would you vote for a guy purely on the basis that Billie Piper divorced him? Because that’s all that differentiates him from Farage (that and the fact that he can’t stop getting sued).

Has it come to this?

The Clacton by-election is going to be a surreal experience.

It’s a man who looks like a toad fighting a guy who’s dressed like a bin versus an attention-seeker who isn’t a fox.

In one sense, you can see why the Greens have sat this one out. In another, the absolute last thing you want to do as an insurgent political party is to sit out a fight.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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