Longest ballot in UK voting history features likes of Count Binface and Howling Laud Hope alongside Reform leader
Polls have opened in Clacton, with thousands of residents in the Essex seat to vote in a ballot featuring Nigel Farage and a range of novelty and fringe candidates led by Count Binface.
The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelection in an attempt to address complaints over a deepening scandal about gifts he received.
He is expected to face a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog, which was opened in May after the Guardian revealed he had received a ÂŁ5m personal gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto billionaire, in April 2024.
Farage has denied the gift amounted to an inducement to run for office, insisting it was personal in nature. He has given a series of explanations for the gift, including that it was for his security and a reward for Brexit.
The inquiry will look into allegations Farage was financially supported by the crypto gambler and convicted fraudster George Cottrell, a close friend, after the Sunday Times reported that Cottrell’s support included security and social media staff who worked on Farage’s online content in the year before he was elected.
Reform UK claimed that was a “baseless and contrived story” and that no parliamentary rules had been broken.
The inquiry, which was suspended on 8 July after Farage’s decision to force a byelection, could restart as soon as Friday if he is re-elected.
If parliament imposes sanctions for failing to declare the gifts, he may be removed from the House of Commons and face a second byelection.
All of the main parties have boycotted the byelection, announcing they would not stand candidates for a “media circus” and a “vanity project”. Instead, Count Binface, the self-declared “entirely independent space warrior” created by the comedian Jon Harvey, stepped into the void.
A record number of candidates are seeking election, presenting voters with the longest ballot paper in British electoral history.
Among the 34 candidates on the ballot paper are independents, the actor and rightwing political activist Laurence Fox and three figures from the Monster Raving Loony party: Howling Laud Hope, Baron Von Thunderclap and Nick the Incredible Flying Brick.
As well as the town of Clacton-on-Sea, the constituency comprises rural villages, farmland and several seaside towns and villages including Frinton, Walton-on-the-Naze and Jaywick, which last year was named the most deprived neighbourhood in England for the fourth consecutive time since 2010.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, the population of Clacton is older than the average in England. A third of working-age people are economically inactive, compared with fewer than one in five in the east of England. Seventy per cent of the population voted leave in the EU referendum.
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