Over a quarter of voters backed Count Binface over Nigel Farage in Clacton by-election

Count Binface won the support of more than one in four Clacton voters in yesterday’s by-election.

Nigel Farage has declared that he won the contest “fairly convincingly”, securing 22,239 votes.

Yet, Binface won 26.9% of the vote, securing support from 9,455 voters in Clacton yesterday.

This marks the intergalactic space warrior’s best result in a parliamentary election.

In the Makerfield by-election, the Count Binface party secured just 95 votes to Andy Burnham’s 24,927. 

This shows how strong the anti-Farage vote was in Clacton.

While Reform actively campaigned in the seat, spent £10,000 on Meta adverts and did a ‘Get Out the Vote’ drive, none of the other main parties fielded candidates.

The turnout for the by-election was just over 44%, which pollster John Curtice has said is “quite healthy” for a by-election.

However, it is significantly lower than the turnout in Clacton at the 2024 general election, which was 58.7%. 

Reacting to the result, Cary Mitchell, Executive Director of Strategy at Best for Britain, told Left Foot Forward: ”Farage may have, on paper, been re-elected but it’s far from a resounding endorsement for a self-proclaimed man of the people – a man who couldn’t even be bothered to attend the results declaration for his own re-election.

“What the outcome in Clacton really tells us, is that centre and left wing voters will coalesce behind even the unlikeliest of candidates, including an alien with a bin on his head, to avoid supporting the Reform UK leader, who now faces a resumed parliamentary standards probe and the prospect of a potential recall petition.”

Hope not Hate also pointed out that “a comfortable victory” in Farage’s political stronghold “does not settle questions over his conduct”.

A Hope not Hate spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage may have won in Clacton, but the problems that led him to call this by-election have not gone away. If anything, they have become more profound. 

“Farage resigned his seat while facing serious questions over a £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire and a parliamentary standards investigation. He is now returning to Westminster with those questions still hanging over him, and that investigation can resume. 

“Farage wanted this election to draw a line under the controversy. Instead, the stench of sleaze is increasingly clinging to both him and Reform UK. Recent political history tells us that once a party gains that reputation, it can be extremely difficult to shake. 

“Reform will try to present this result as vindication. A comfortable victory in Farage’s own political stronghold, with the major parties standing aside, does not settle the questions over his conduct or tell us that Reform’s path to power is inevitable.”

In a post on X, writer and former political strategist Alistair Campbell celebrated Binface’s result.

Campbell wrote: “As the Nicotine Stained Manfrog tries to spin his 22,000 votes as a win, meet the real winner of this Backfiring Farage Stunt.

“@CountBinface should make us all feel proud to be British! Farage credibility is shot! As for not turning up to the count … pathetic. And spare us the ‘police warning BS’. Binface I salute you.”

In a video he shared today, Binface joked: “I am the winning candidate of the candidates who bothered to turn up to the results.”

Farage did not show up to the by-election count, citing a “credible threat” to his security.

The Reform leader separately told his supporters at a ‘Farage Fest’ celebration event: “I am damned if I am going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory… and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward