17th July 2026
Nigel Farage recently resigned his seat in his constituency of Clacton over some scandal where he received an undisclosed payment worth millions of pounds from a "cryptocurrency billionaire." He is to recontest the seat, in a by-election due in August.
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, branded it a "fake by-election" designed to allow Farage to avoid parlimentary oversight. This is because since Farage is no longer an MP, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards cannot sanction him.
Personally, I would dismiss it as "fake" for other reasons. None of the mainstream parties (Tories, Labour, Lib Dems, Greens) will contest the seat. We're told they're boycotting the election out of principle, but the reality is that the ailing old parties would lose badly, and are thus biding their time.
Of course, Farage and his own party are little better, acting as a controlled opposition outfit, designed to soak up dissident political energy that could be far better spent elsewhere. Reform has proven itself to be an entirely unserious party, preferring posturing on social media to actual policy. It's another party based on "vibes" - just like the established ones.
In the absence of the usual opposition, Farage's primary opponent will be a novelty candidate, Count Binface. Plenty of obscure novelty candidates have come and gone in British politics, but British media are promoting this guy to the skies right now. The crooked "green" billionaire, Dale Vince, is even financially supporting him.
But why promote this guy? Nobody serious would advocate or vote for him. He's a joke candidate with zero actual policies or policital positions. What would he do if elected to parliament? How would he serve his constituents? His manifesto doesn't even pretend to try to answer these questions. Is he there only to stick it to Farage? Regardless, why not field someone actually serious? Is this guy really the best we've got?
The answer to that last question is a resounding no, of course. There are still plenty of people out there who would make fine representatives, but our political system repels them. Good, honest people are savagely filtered out of the rigged party and electoral systems, and what we're left with are people who are slimy careerists, slavishly pro-establishment, and promoted out of wealthy, well-connected families.
Where does Count Binface come from? We're given little information about his background and upbringing. Wikipedia tells us he was born in Croydon. His father "was an estate agent, was an alcoholic, which made his childhood chaotic." Nothing else is mentioned about his early life. His parents are unnamed. In the absence of any substantial background info, my guess is this guy's family is wealthy and well-connected indeed. The idea that this chap is just some everyday bloke who managed to attract such a huge, positively-spun media bltiz and billionaire-backed funding is too good to be true until proven otherwise.
Mr. Binface is at least further obvious proof of Britain's degraded, rigged, idiotic politics, in case you still needed any. Well-informed voters would have dismissed this clown ages ago. Honest, intelligent journalists would have skewered him as a waste of political space. Instead, this guy gets non-stop media hype. One can only wonder how further degraded things could get from here.