Nigel Farage beats Count Binface to regain UK parliamentary seat in widely mocked by-election

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage regained his parliamentary seat on Friday in an election he triggered to bolster his position against allegations of financial impropriety, a strategy that was undermined when his main challenger, a comedian dressed as a rubbish bin, won more than a quarter of the vote. Read moreCount Binface, the satirical UK candidate challenging far-right Farage Farage, one of Britain’s ​leading Brexit campaigners, in ‌a highly unusual move did not turn up at count in the southern English seaside resort of Clacton because he ⁠said the police had advised him that there was a campaign to disrupt the result. “I am damned if I am going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory.... and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” Farage ‌told supporters at a party before the result was announced. The election was triggered after Farage resigned from parliament last month to ⁠seek a fresh mandate from voters in what he described as a war against an establishment bent on discrediting him over taking undeclared gifts from donors. After Britain’s main parties pulled out of the race, calling it a self-serving stunt, Farage’s main challenger ended up being Count Binface...