Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Opposition leader Olukemi “Kemi” Badenoch have thrown their support behind “Count Binface,” the alter ego of a BBC contractor, in an election contest against Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has endorsed “Count Binface,” played by longtime BBC contractor Jonathan David Harvey, in a parliamentary by-election (special election) called by Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage. Following months of insinuations of financial wrongdoing, Farage preempted his opponents by standing down from his seat in the House of Commons in order to recontest it in a by-election and allow voters to render a verdict on his conduct. However, Starmer’s Labour Party, the notionally center-right Conservatives, and the other major political parties have all stood aside, allowing “Binface”—a perennial novelty candidate in prominent parliamentary elections—to become the establishment’s de facto anti-Farage unity candidate. 📰 DETAIL: Starmer endorsed Binface during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, urging the public to “put your vote in the bin.” He was set up by Conservative Party leader Olukemi Olufunto “Kemi” Adegoke Badenoch, who used one of her questions at PMQs—intended to be an opportunity for lawmakers to hold the Prime Minister to account—to ask Starmer if he “agree[s] that what the country deserves is a televised debate between Nigel Farage and Count Binface,” earning peals of laughter from her nominal rivals on the Labour benches. 🎯 IMPACT: Labour and the Conservatives using PMQs, where they are supposed to be adversaries, to team up against Farage strengthens the perception that they comprise a “uniparty” with few meaningful differences. Their refusal to make a direct pitch to voters in Farage’s Clacton constituency by suggesting they should put their ballots “in the bin” has earned criticism online, with many social media users saying they are treating the democratic process with contempt. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “Nothing is more apt when describing our so-called ‘liberal democracy’ than the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems uniting to tell voters that their vote belongs in the bin.” – ‘The Mercian’ on X (formerly Twitter) |
🚨 WATCH: Kemi Badenoch says the “country deserves” a televised debate between Count Binface and Nigel Farage
Starmer: “My advice to everyone is to put your vote in the bin” #PMQs pic.twitter.com/2OLMJqlMJX
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 15, 2026
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