Tomorrow, the people of Clacton will go to the polls in a by-election. The ballot paper is huge, with no fewer than 34 candidates standing for the seat. The sitting MP, Nigel Farage of Reform UK, had a couple of financial scandals crop up. He resigned not out of shame and expiation but rather to win the seat and close down the entire debate about his banking shenanigans. He is popular in the constituency and should have won easily as the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems and Greens would split the anti-Reform vote. Those parties did not take the bait, so Mr. Farage is standing against 33 less-serious candidates. Leading them is Count Binface. The people of Clacton should elect him to save the country.
Nigel Farage is a grifter, a man of sharp practices. He has made a name in xenophobic political circles leading the Leave campaign in the Brexit Campaign. Reform is simply the vehicle he uses to stay in the spotlight.
PBS reports:
Parliament’s standards watchdog is investigating a potentially rule-breaking donation of 5 million pounds ($6.7 million) from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire. Farage says the money was a personal gift he used to fund his personal security and came before he was elected to the House of Commons. Newly elected lawmakers must declare gifts worth more than 300 pounds ($400) received in the previous 12 months if they are related to political activities.
Farage is also facing questions about his financial relationship with George Cottrell, an aristocratic crypto-gambling entrepreneur who served a U.S. prison sentence for fraud.
Mr. Farage stands on Reform’s right-wing populism, which is not far removed from the German AfD or the French National Rally. They are MAGA with a British twist. Defeating him would be a victory for British democracy.
Count Binface, actor/comedian Jon Harvey, has stood before, losing to Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham. His policies include building one affordable home during his tenure as MP, moving the hand dryer in the Crown and Treaty pub in Uxbridge (the western terminus of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines on the Underground) “to a more sensible locationâ€and capping croissant prices at 1.10 pounds.
This sort of trolling in British politics has a long and honored tradition. One remembers the fun Screaming Lord Sutch brought to by-elections in the 1980s and 1990s; he would perform with his band at the election night party to make up the money he lost on his election deposit. Lord Sutch was leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, which is fielding three candidates in Clacton. As a result, they will split the Loony vote.
But in one sense, this election is deadly serious. If Mr. Farage wins, he will have put the financial issues behind them. While the law may have something to say about it all, the voters will have given him a pass. His political career will sail onwards. Local polling is notoriously tricky, but Mr. Farage seems to be in decent shape.
Yet if he loses, it will be the end of his career. One does not recover from a loss to Count Binface. Moreover, he is the leader of a significant political party. Were Count Binface to carry the day, the entire edifice that is Reform would likley collapse. Right-wing populism in the UK would not go away; it never really will. But it would lack a credible electoral vehicle for a time. Perhaps the Restore UK lot (who think Reform have gone establishment) would become the party of the populist right. That would take time, and that would benefit those who want a more welcoming and prosperous UK.