𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A Labour donor has pledged to fund Count Binface’s by-election battle against Nigel Farage. Green entrepreneur Dale Vince has got in touch with the joke candidate’s agent to offer to fund his run for Clacton.

Count Binface, whose real name is Jon Harvey, is the main rival to the Reform UK leader after opposition parties including the Tories and Labour boycotted the race in the Essex constituency. Mr Farage triggered the “people versus the establishment” by-election amid a row over his financial affairs.

Mr Vince told The Telegraph: “I want Binface to win, and I am prepared to support him – morally, verbally and financially if that works for him.”

The green businessmen could only spend £700 if he wanted to run campaign against Mr Farage in Clacton, according to the Electoral Commission.

But he could donate up to £180,050 to Count Binface to spend on campaigning materials during the by-election.

Mr Farage has accused opposition parties of “running scared” after they boycotted the contest.

He said Labour, the media and “the whole establishment” were doing “everything they can to destroy me, my family, the party, our donors and the millions who support us”.

Writing in the Daily Express, he said: “In our democracy, who should decide who gets to sit as an MP or form a government?

“Should it be the voters of seats such as Clacton? Or should it be the British establishment, through its political agents, media mouthpieces and parliamentary committees?”

But he admitted he had not considered the prospect of other parties snubbing the by-election.

He told the Daily Mail: “No, of course not. Why would they (not contest)? It’s a real election.”

Mr Farage, who denies any wrongdoing, was being probed by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over an undeclared £5 billion gift from cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne, which he said was needed to pay for his security amid ongoing threats.

He is also facing questions over support from his long-time ally George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster known as “Posh George”.