Politics
British Voters Favour Count Binface Over Nigel Farage
British voters want Count Binface to beat Nigel Farage in Thursday’s Clacton by-election, a new poll has revealed.
The survey, by the More in Common think-tank, found that 37% of the public want the comedy candidate to win in a head-to-head contest with the Reform UK leader.
By contrast, just 32% of Brits would want Farage to win.
A majority of Labour, Lib Dem and Green Party voters want Count Binface to win, although Farage is backed by Tories and, unsurprisingly, Reform supporters.
He quit as Clacton’s MP last month amid the furore over a £5 million gift he received from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before he became an MP two years ago.
Farage said he is the victim of a “witch-hunt” and was therefore triggering a “people versus the establishment” by-election.
An investigation by parliament’s standards watchdog into Farage’s failure to declare the money was immediately put on hold, but it will start again if he wins the contest.
A total of 34 candidates are taking part in the by-election, even though Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems Greens and Restore Britain all refused to put up candidates.
Despite the seeming popularity of Count Binface in the UK at large, Farage is expected to be comfortably re-elected in a seat he won with a majority of 8,405 at the 2024 general election.
It may not be the last by-election in the seat this year, however.
If the standards commissioner finds that Farage broke Commons rules by not declare his £5m gift, and he is suspended as an MP for more than 10 days, a recall petition will be held which could lead to another by-election being held.
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