Nigel Farage has been re-elected as MP for Clacton after a by-election held on 13 August 2026, according to a national broadcaster's report, which confirmed the contest date and outcome. Farage secured 63.3% of the vote, while satirical candidate Count Binface finished second with 26.9%, his strongest showing in six attempts at elected office.
The contest was triggered when Farage stood down and then chose to run again, prompting the other major parties to sit out the race entirely. That left Binface as the only serious challenger on the ballot, a dynamic a national broadcaster's earlier coverage described as turning the by-election into a straightforward two-man contest between Farage and the intergalactic space warrior, as reported by the BBC's candidate profile.
How did the results break down?
Farage polled more than 22,000 votes to retain the Clacton seat on the Essex coast, while Binface collected 9,455 votes, well above any total he had previously managed. Counting took place overnight, with polls closing at 10pm and the result declared in the early hours of the following morning, according to live coverage from a national broadcaster and corroborated by a separate outlet's rolling updates on polling night.
Ahead of polling day, a seat-projection model from an election forecasting site had put Binface's likely vote share at around 20%, meaning his eventual 26.9% outperformed that pre-election estimate.
Who is the man behind Count Binface?
Count Binface is the satirical creation of comedian Jon Harvey, an Oxford graduate whose writing credits include the BBC comedy programmes The Thick of It and Have I Got News For You. According to the broadcaster's candidate profile, Harvey has now contested four parliamentary elections and two London mayoral races under his various alter egos, and his best result before Clacton had been 308 votes — meaning he had never previously won back his election deposit.
2017: May the Force be with you
Harvey's first foray into election spoofery came in 2017, when — under the name Lord Buckethead, a character borrowed from a Star Wars parody film — he challenged then Prime Minister Theresa May in her Maidenhead constituency.
He received 249 votes but gained wider fame, earning an appearance on John Oliver's HBO programme Last Week Tonight, as well as becoming embroiled in a legal dispute with a rival performer also using the Lord Buckethead name, which he described at the time as an
unpleasant battle on the planet Copyright
2019: The bin takes on Boris Johnson
For the next general election, Harvey adopted a new bin and a new identity, becoming Count Binface, self-declared leader of the Recyclons from planet Sigma IX, to run against Conservative leader Boris Johnson.
He won just 69 votes that time, but still stood alongside the sitting prime minister at the Uxbridge count, in a lineup that also featured a candidate dressed as the Sesame Street character Elmo.
2024: Sunak takes out the trash
Binface set his sights on a third Conservative leader, Rishi Sunak, during the 2024 general election campaign, taking 308 votes — at the time his best-ever total.
Also on the ballot was Sir Archibald Stanton of the Monster Raving Loony Party, who received 99 votes, equivalent to 0.2% of the vote share.
2026: Burnham courts the Count
In June 2026, Binface faced Andy Burnham in the by-election that ultimately paved the way for the then Greater Manchester Mayor to become prime minister.
Rather than keeping his distance, Burnham shook Binface warmly by the hand after being declared the winning Labour candidate for Makerfield. Binface managed only 95 votes against Burnham's 24,927.
Is this part of a wider British tradition?
Novelty candidates have a long history in UK elections. Screaming Lord Sutch, a rock musician known for his top hat and gold lamé suit, founded the Monster Raving Loony Party in 1982 after first standing in a by-election in the 1960s and went on to contest more than 40 elections.
A different performer also used the Lord Buckethead name in 1987 and 1992, while comedian Al Murray stood against Farage in his pub-landlord persona in 2015. Restrictions on so-called frivolous candidates date back to 1918, when a £150 candidate deposit was introduced; that figure rose to £500 in 1985, largely in response to the growing popularity of the Monster Raving Loony Party.
Under current rules, any citizen aged 18 or over can stand for election provided they pay the £500 deposit and gather ten supporting signatures. That deposit is only returned if a candidate secures at least 5% of the vote — a threshold Binface has never previously reached, though his 26.9% share in Clacton would comfortably clear it.
Every candidate, regardless of how many votes they receive, is required to stand on stage together as results are announced — a tradition that has repeatedly put comedians in bin costumes shoulder to shoulder with sitting and future prime ministers.
What happens next?
The Clacton by-election result was confirmed after overnight counting following polls closing at 10pm on 13 August 2026, with the declaration made in the early hours of the following Friday morning, according to a national broadcaster's report and its live coverage of the count. Farage now returns to Parliament as the sitting MP for Clacton, while Binface — having lost his deposit for the fifth time despite his record vote share — is likely to remain a fixture at future high-profile contests.
Key Facts
- Nigel Farage won the 13 August 2026 Clacton by-election with 63.3% of the vote and more than 22,000 ballots cast in his favour.
- Count Binface finished second with 26.9% of the vote and 9,455 ballots, his best-ever result across six election attempts.
- Binface is the alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey, who has previously stood as Lord Buckethead and has never before won back his £500 deposit.
- The by-election became a two-way race after other major parties boycotted the contest following Farage's resignation and subsequent decision to stand again.
- A pre-election forecasting model had projected Binface's vote share at around 20%, below his eventual 26.9% total.
