Self-styled intergalactic space warrior Count Binface finished second in the Clacton by-election on Thursday with 9,455 votes.

A record 34 candidates stood in the contest, but Binface and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage were the only contenders to secure more than 500 votes.

The other major UK parties boycotted the election, which was triggered by Farage’s resignation as an MP in July, having won the seat from the Conservatives in 2024.

Binface has stood in various high-profile elections around the country in recent years. Before Clacton, his best results were more than 24,000 votes in the last two London mayoral elections.

With more candidates on the ballot than ever before, why did 26.9% of voters choose a man wearing a bin on his head?

First-time voter Ben Peters, 18, from Holland-on-Sea, said the election had been a “joke” since the start.

He said: “It was a bit of a thrill, but at the same time it felt almost pointless because I knew that, no matter what I did, Farage was going to get back into the seat.”

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Binface’s policies had included nationalising the singer Adele, moving a pub hand dryer in Uxbridge and enforcing a 99p price tag on ice creams with 99 flakes.

Peters said: “Even if it means voting for Count Binface and getting 99p ice creams for 99 flakes, that is one more step than Nigel Farage has ever done for Clacton.”

Alex Greenwood, from Thorpe-le-Soken, acknowledged some policies were “a bit silly” but the 18-year-old student argued there was an underlying logic to them.

“Nationalising Adele… all of Adele’s song proceeds go to a private company which goes to shareholders and her songs are pretty much cultural icons,” he said.

“It’s not actually that far-fetched… why not have all that money go to the government which could be used on the NHS and stuff?”

Greenwood suggested his vote was partially a protest against Farage, whom he believes called the by-election to avoid scrutiny from the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

He added: “I do like Binface. I don’t like Farage all that much.”

Before Farage quit his Clacton seat in July, Parliament’s standards watchdog had been investigating him for not declaring a £5m gift he received from billionaire Reform UK donor Christopher Harborne before he became an MP.

He said the by-election was a “people versus the establishment” showdown, saying the “people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions”.

Kerry Mitchell, who lives in Wix, said she had voted for Count Binface because he would have made for a “more credible, honest, responsible, not to say committed, MP than Nigel Farage”.

The 61-year-old, who voted Labour in 2024, said: “Nigel Farage poses a real threat to democracy in the UK and if Binface had won, it would have put an end to him.

“And it also added some much-needed humour and lightness into politics.

“The world is in a very dark place at the moment, and a bit of levity and humour is fantastic, especially when you contrast it with the rhetoric of outrage, division and anger that we hear from the far-right.”

Tracey Donovan, 61, also voted Labour in the last general election and decided to back Binface on Thursday because it was “the only viable alternative to Farage”.

“I detest Farage and everything he stands for. He has done absolutely nothing for our constituency,” she told the BBC.

“I want an MP who represents our area with the constituents’ interests being addressed.

“He claims the establishment is against him, but he is the establishment.”

Donovan, who has lived in Clacton her entire life, added she was pleasantly surprised by how many people voted for Binface.

“He had almost a third of the votes cast as supposedly a joke candidate, and I’m very pleased that it is only really just over a quarter of the constituency [voting] population who actively backed Farage and Reform,” she said.

“Count Binface could have rid this town of its Little Britain label if more of the 55% who didn’t vote at all had got out there and voted against Farage.”

Salon owner Verda Rigby, who lives in St Osyth, used to vote for the Conservatives before she “became a socialist” and started supporting Labour.

In this election, however, as voting for Labour was not an option, the 66-year-old instead opted for Binface.

“I could have stayed at home, but we fought for the right to vote and, look, it was partly for the joke that Farage is,” she said.

“And I despise the right-wing parties Reform, Restore, and Reclaim – it’s like a bad pop group of numpties.”

Philip Bird, 66, has lived in Clacton for 30 years and said he, too, would have voted for Labour if the party had stood a candidate in the election.

“I think it was absolutely right not to stand anyone because none of the major parties should have condoned this election,” he said.

“It was farcical, completely unnecessary, and designed to distract attention, and it wasn’t going to change anything, so I was quite comfortable voting for a satirical candidate.

“Farage has greatly harmed the conversation in this country, he has been a dreadful MP, he has done nothing for Clacton, and in reality his politics are precisely what Clacton doesn’t need.”

In a statement after his win on Friday, the Reform leader said: “The verdict is now in, and it is a convincing, overwhelming win, with more votes than we got in the general election of 2024.

“Today, the voters in Clacton have stuck up two fingers to the entire political establishment.”

Additional reporting by George King.

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