Reform UK leader Nigel Farage resigned as an MP in early July - an action that has been widely questioned and criticised.
The move has been called a stunt and described as an attempt to divert public attention from the parliamentary investigations into multi-million pound donations that are underway against him. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the by-election “should not be allowed to take place” and accused Farage of sparking a “political fury”.
Record number of wild animals
It will be the people versus the establishment, Farage himself said in July about the election in Clacton, which is located in the county of Essex.
However, none of the major parties - Labour, the Tories, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Restore Britain - are standing, meaning the election could be criticised for being unrepresentative. As a former MP, Farage is expected to be re-elected as Clacton's representative in the House of Commons.
The opposition instead consists of a record number of political oddballs, comedians or representatives of smaller parties: a total of 34 candidates are running, writes the BBC.
Prefer Binface?
The comedian who calls himself Count Binface, dressed as a garbage can and known for his political satire, has emerged as perhaps the most serious contender.
"I'm the only refreshing thing on the menu," Count Binface, whose real name is Jon Harvey, has said about the election.
In a national opinion poll conducted by the analysis company Ipsos, support for the dustbin politician was greater than for Farage: In a hypothetical duel between them, 33 percent said they would prefer to see Binface win, compared to 21 percent for Farage.
"It is of course the residents of Clacton who will vote in the upcoming by-election, not the general public. But the fact that only one in five Britons would prefer Nigel Farage to win the election reflects how his (personal) opinion figures have fallen over the past year," writes Keiran Pedley, head of research at British Ipsos.
Farage was a driving force behind Britain's exit from the EU and has been touted as a possible future prime minister. His right-wing populist Reform UK party has often topped opinion polls or been in second place recently.
Gifts, benefits and accommodation received twelve months before an election must be declared and accounted for, according to British House of Commons regulations. Right-wing populist Nigel Farage has been the subject of several investigations by the independent body Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in his role as an MP.
Farage is suspected of violating the rules when he, without reporting the amount, accepted a multi-million dollar gift from a crypto billionaire ahead of the 2024 parliamentary election. He has also been reported for accepting gifts from a British financier who was sentenced to prison for fraud in the US in 2017.
Farage denies any wrongdoing.
