Count Binface plans Fringe show after Clacton defeat

Count Binface, the novelty candidate who wore a garbage can on his head and finished second to Nigel Farage in the Clacton by-election, is turning his unexpectedly strong vote total into a stage appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The self-styled intergalactic space warrior, the alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey, announced a one-off show called Face of the Establishment at the Pleasance on Aug. 26, the BBC reported. The show is described as a “one-hour dose of political comedy and sci-fi satire.”

Binface lost the by-election to Farage, but he drew 9,455 votes, or about 27% of the total. Farage won with 22,239 votes, about 63%, in a contest that featured a record 34 candidates and an unusually long paper ballot. The BBC said Binface’s 26.9% share is thought to be the highest ever for a novelty candidate.

The result was also a personal milestone for Binface. CBS News reported that it was the first time he crossed the 5% threshold needed to reclaim the 500-pound deposit, about $677, required to run.

Binface’s campaign slogan was direct: “I’m here to take out the trash.” His platform included proposals to build “at least one affordable house,” nationalize Adele and bring back Ceefax, according to the BBC. CBS News reported that his agenda also included cutting voters’ taxes while raising everyone else’s.

Harvey, a former BBC journalist and satirist, has made Count Binface a recurring figure in British elections. He has previously stood in four parliamentary elections and two London mayoral elections, the BBC reported. He has appeared on the same ballot as two sitting prime ministers during general elections: Boris Johnson in 2019 and Rishi Sunak in 2024. In 2017, Harvey stood as a different character, Lord Buckethead, against Theresa May in Maidenhead.

CBS News reported that Binface later adopted the Count Binface name and went on to compete against figures including Johnson and, most recently, current U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham. His previous results were far smaller; CBS News said he received just 95 votes in his challenge to Burnham.

The Clacton vote was triggered by Farage himself. CBS News reported that Farage, an ally of President Trump who has led a surging far-right, populist movement in the U.K., resigned in early July as a lawmaker to force the special election.

“I’ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” Farage said when he announced his resignation, according to CBS News.

“This will be a people versus the establishment by-election,” he said, calling it “a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment to frankly tell them where to go.”

CBS News reported that the move was seen as a high-risk attempt to renew Farage’s mandate while he faced pressure over a scandal involving the failure to disclose financial gifts. The BBC reported that the major parties did not field candidates in the by-election.

Harvey has performed at the Fringe before, appearing there in 2018, and performed to crowds at Glastonbury in 2024, the BBC reported. After his strongest electoral showing yet, Count Binface will now take his political satire back to the stage.