One in three British adults (33 per cent) would rather see Count Binface winning the Clacton by-election, a new poll has shown.
Only 21 per cent told YouGov that they would like to see Nigel Farage re-elected as MP, while nearly three in four (74 per cent) said that the parliamentary standards commissioner should be investigating the Reform UK leader.
Mr Farage is under increasing pressure as scrutiny grows over his financial affairs, with it emerging that the Metropolitan Police has been investigating £500,000 of donations to his political party for more than a year.
The Clacton MP resigned and called a by-election in which he will run, but his main opponent is likely to be parody candidate Count Binface, after mainstream parties refused to participate.
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has insisted a donor at the heart of a row over the party’s finances comes from a “very successful aristocratic family” and the ongoing row is a “politically motivated smear”.
According to The Times, convicted fraudster George Cottrell’s mother, Fiona, made two £250,000 payments to Reform before the last general election in 2024, and also gave £1 million to Britain Means Business, which Mr Tice is a director of.
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Inside Nigel Farage’s desperate by-election plan to snatch the political agenda from Burnham
Nigel Farage’s decision to call a by-election was not a spur of the moment decision but a considered plan with an acceptance of even the worst-case scenario, as Political editor David Maddox explains:
Harriette Boucher11 July 2026 11:00
Count Binface, according to the Monster Raving Loony Party
Count Binface “goes a bit funny if you use his real name” and threatened to sue me if I posted a photo with him, another joke candidate has said.
Nick the Flying Brick, a joke candidate on numerous occasions for the Monster Raving Loony party, as well as its treasurer, has recalled his interaction with Binface during the Makerfield by-election.
“He is very much a one-man band and he goes a bit funny if you use his real name,” the Flying Brick told The Guardian.
“No one has ever seen him without the bin on his head and the conference centre’s air con was broken so he must have been so hot. Then I asked if I could take a photo with him.”
“He asked what we were going to do with it,” he recalled. “We said we would probably put it on our website, and he said: ‘No no.’ He said he would sue if we took a picture.
“I think he was maybe half joking? He was half in, half out of character. He was looking at the cameras, so we took a picture anyway – it wasn’t great, to be honest. But he runs a very tight operation. We have to take our hats off: he is totally out-shadowing us.”
Harriette Boucher11 July 2026 10:47
What do Nigel Farage’s Clacton constituents think about his resignation?
Harriette Boucher11 July 2026 10:25
The strange and surprisingly moving story behind Count Binface, the man taking on Farage
As the main parties refuse to take part in the Clacton by-election, only one candidate has stepped forward to challenge Farage – and he’s dressed as an alien and dons a tin bin. Katie Rosseinsky takes a look at the man behind the mask:
Harriette Boucher11 July 2026 10:04
Reform leader paying himself £50,000 in rent
Nigel Farage is paying himself £50,000 in rent for a studio at his own property.
The arrangement does not require him to declare the payment in the register of members’ interests and could possibly help him lower his tax bill, The Times has revealed.
The Reform UK leader’s personal service company, Thorn in the Side Ltd, agreed to pay Farage £10,000 a year over the next five years for the “rental of studio premises”.
MPs must declare rental payments if they are over £10,000 a year.
It also means he could deduct expenses incurred running the studio, providing potential tax advantages.
A Reform UK spokesman said: “The British people are tired of the establishment media doing anything they can to stop Reform.
“A daily routine of hit jobs and smears will not deter us from winning the next general election and fixing broken Britain. It’s now clear that the establishment will try anything to stop us.”
Harriette Boucher11 July 2026 09:56
Who has backed Count Binface in Clacton by-election?
Given a head-to-head choice between the two candidates, 33 per cent of British adults said they would prefer Count Binface to win, while only 21 per cent would back the Reform UK leader, polling from Ipsos found.
Within 24 hours of Mr Farage’s resignation, more than 5,000 people donated to Count Binface’s emergency campaign fund, raising more than £15,000 to cover his deposit and leafleting costs.
As the self-described “intergalactic space warrior” currently stands as the most prominent alternative to Mr Farage, Count Binface has drawn support from across the political spectrum.
Find out who is backing Count Binface in his race against Mr Farage:
Harriette Boucher11 July 2026 09:25
Farage fears life for politicians has become more dangerous
Nigel Farage has said the murder probe into ex-Tory minister Ann Widdecombe’s death shows that life for politicians has become more dangerous.
The Reform leader said yesterday that he was “deeply, deeply upset” by the nature of her death.
“Our nation is a much, much poorer place without her. Reform UK is certainly a much worse place without her. I was expecting to see her in Clacton over the course of the next few days. Sadly, that is not going to happen.
“Rest in peace, Ann. A remarkable, principled woman, and a truly dreadful way to die, and a terrible reflection on modern Britain.
“And I do fear that for anybody in public life, or especially the political space, things have become even more dangerous to them.”
Police have said they do not believe the motive behind her death was politically motivated.
Harriette Boucher11 July 2026 09:12
Cap private political donations to restore trust in British democracy, think tank says
A cap on private political donations would rebuild trust in British politics, a new report has argued.
Published by think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the major report makes the case for a “radical overhaul” of the UK’s democracy through a new model of “democratic citizenship”, in response to a crisis of pride in the country and growing disillusion with the current political system.
It has proposed several reforms that it believes will rebuild trust in the UK’s political institutions and boost national unity.
Read the full article here:
Joe Middleton11 July 2026 07:00
Nigel Farage named sleaziest politician in UK in new poll – and even Reform voters think it
According to a new YouGov poll, 73 per cent of Britons think the Reform UK leader is sleazy, while 69 per cent of people say the same of his party.
Some 56 per cent categorised Mr Farage as “very sleazy”, with an additional 17 per cent finding him “fairly sleazy”, while 40 per cent of those who voted Reform at the last election today consider him to be sleazy.
The polling highlights a clear gap between the public’s perception of Mr Farage and the other party leaders, with 51 per cent of Britons seeing Sir Keir Starmer as at least fairly sleazy, while 42 per cent said the same of Green leader Zack Polanski.
Read the full article here:
Joe Middleton11 July 2026 06:00