The nation suffered collective whiplash on Tuesday as Nigel Farage announced he would be resigning as MP for Clacton-on-Sea, triggering a by-election – which he plans to run in.
The vote, branded ‘a farce and a desperate distraction’ by politicians, is an attempt by the Reform UK leader to ‘stick two fingers up to the entire establishment’ and prove his worthiness to represent the Essex constituency amid a series of scandals over his finances.
All the major political parties have confirmed they won’t run in the by-election, scheduled for August 13.
But the race is by no means won. While Farage is expected to emerge victorious next month, a number of candidates from the fringes of UK politics have emerged as rivals vying for his spot.
So who is the motley crew fighting for control of Clacton?
Nigel Farage
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The reason we’re all here. Farage’s shock resignation earlier this week came after concerns were raised over a £5,000,000 financial ‘gift’ the Reform UK leader had allegedly not declared from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in January 2024.
He has also faced criticism for his links to convicted fraudster George Cottrell, with Met Police now investigating a donation allegedly given to Reform by his mother weeks before the 2024 election.
The former MP – who held his seat for two years before stepping down – also angrily confronted a Sky News journalist at an airport and accused them of harassing his family.
Asked whether it had been a ‘mistake to accept the gifts’, Farage said: ‘Do you not hear me? You have broken all the rules, Leveson, and everything else.’
Sky News denies the allegation and said it has not contacted anyone from Farage’s family about the story.
In his announcement, he said: ‘I’ve thought about it hard, and I’ve decided today I will resign as a member of parliament for Clacton-on-Sea, thereby forcing a by-election which should happen, I think, in short order.’
But fellow politicians have hit out at his announcement.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘This is a desperate stunt from Nigel Farage and it’s obvious why he’s doing it — he is up to his neck in sleaze.
‘Politics should be about improving the lives of millions of people, not about personal gain, not about hiding dodgy donations, and I think the public will see this for exactly what it is.’
Count Binface
Binface has become an unlikely hero in British politics – even if he’s never made it to Parliament.
The ‘intergalactic space warrior’ has run for office in a few general elections and also stood against the likely incumbent Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the recent Makerfield by-election, where he bagged 0.2% of the vote.
Binface has emerged this week as the lovable underdog most likely to unseat Farage. Earlier this week, bookmakers William Hill gave 4/1 odds for Binface to become Clacton’s new MP.
He’s already making media appearances ahead of his campaign, having been told to ‘bin off the bin’ on BBC Newsnight – only to declare the programme a ‘souped-up podcast’ in response.
Binface’s policies over the years have included nationalising Adele, moving an awkwardly-placed hand dryer in an Uxbridge pub, capping the price of 99 Flake ice creams at 99p and becoming the UK entry for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
If Binface really were to win in Clacton, he would be the first novelty candidate to do so in British political history – and all eyes would be on his big bin mask.
According to the i Paper, a right honorable Binface would be banned from sporting his costume in the Commons as clothing must ‘demonstrate respect for the House’.
The man behind the mask is Oxford-educated comedian Jon Harvey, who has written for the likes of The Thick of It and Have I Got News for You.
Man dressed as a fox
Yesterday, Metro revealed a ‘human fox’ would appear on ballot papers in August – and you may well recognise him.
Wildlife campaigner Rob Pownall, 27, will don his famous fox outfit once more and run a campaign against Farage’s personal record on animal welfare and hunting.
Pownall, like Binface, previously stood against Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election wearing the fox costume we’ve come to know and love.
He also stood as a giant gannet in the Scottish Parliament election in a protest against the ‘Guga hunt’ – an annual hunt of gannet chicks in Sula Sgeir.
Pownall previously told Metro: ‘The storyline of this by-election is one of the most famous politicians of a generation standing for parliament against a man with a bin on his head.
‘Now he is going to have to do the same with a man in a fox costume. It is funny and silly.
‘But the difference between me and Count Binface is there is a serious cause behind what I am doing.’
Pownall said he took particular issue with Farage’s policies on hunting and animal rights.
The former MP branded ministers ‘authoritarian control freaks’ over plans to ban trail hunting, and he attended a hunt last Christmas.
Pownall also fears Farage would support other blood sports such as bird shooting. He points to Reform’s 2024 manifesto ‘Our Contract with You’, where the party pledged to protect ‘country sports’, which he claims is an industry euphemism for hunting and shooting.
Howling Laud Hope
The Monster Raving Loony Party has been hovering in the background of British politics for decades.
And while its leader, Howling Laud Hope, ‘doesn’t think Nigel Farage has done the right thing’ by calling a by-election’, he still plans to run next month.
Whoever wins will have to deal with Clacton’s high unemployment and crime rates and poor housing as its new elected representative.
Hope’s plan? Turn the seaside town into a British Disneyland.
‘Clacton will be the place to build it’, he previously told Metro. ‘Everybody will be making money. Clacton will be back to its glory days.
‘That is all it needs. Everybody would be happy. Dancing on the streets and singing’.
He added that he wants to bring Clacton-on-Sea back to its former glory days, when Butlin’s second location was opened there.
To the uninitiated, Hope seems like a natural ally to Count Binface – but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
‘I met him a couple of times. He speaks in a galactic voice. I keep telling him, look, we are going to rule the loony-verse, not you,’ he said.
‘I do not know him personally, because I have never seen his face. You cannot make up your mind about somebody when you haven’t seen their face.’
This will be Hope’s 38th parliamentary election, the previous 37 having been unsuccessful.
‘If I do one more, then I will hold the Guinness Book of Records for the most times standing for the same party,’ he said.