When Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer take the stage to celebrate their victory in the British election on Friday, they will be accompanied in their moment of triumph by either a man with a trash can on his head or someone dressed as “Elmo” from the Muppets.
The more than 4,500 candidates running for the 650 seats in Parliament include people from fringe parties, single-issue campaigners and, in a typically British tradition, those who are making a mockery of the whole thing.
The most famous figure in the latter category is Count Binface, “an inter-galactic warrior, leader of the Recyclans of the planet Sigma IX”, who will challenge Prime Minister Sunak in his constituency in northern England.
Binface, dressed in a silver outfit and matching hat and wearing a silver trash can as a helmet, said he wants to make the July 4 election “Freedom Day” and that he is a “considerate” choice for voters.
“It’s perfect, under the British system I get to stand against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, it’s fantastic,” Binface, aka comedian Jonathan Harvey, told Reuters outside parliament as people gathered around him and asked to take pictures with him.
Binface has now become a familiar face – or helmet – in British elections, standing against two former prime ministers, Theresa May in 2017 – though then he was in his former guise as Lord Buckethead – and Boris Johnson in 2019. He also contested the London mayoral election in 2021 and in May this year, winning 24,000 votes.
His eye-catching policies include keeping the price of croissants at 1.10 pounds ($1.39), promising national service for all former prime ministers and representing Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest.
“It may be true that on Thursday night or Friday morning, I won’t have beaten Rishi Sunak numerically,” said Binface, who has been endorsed by a national newspaper, the Daily Star tabloid. “But I would argue the moral victory will be mine.”
Loonies
The UK comedy candidate belongs to the genre’s veterans, the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, which was formed in 1982 and has been regularly contesting elections ever since.
This year it has fielded 22 candidates, including party leader Howling ‘Lord’ Hope, Baron von Thunderclap and Earl Elwiss of East Anglia.
On the other hand “AI Steve” is hoping to become the world’s first artificial intelligence MP, while the Psychedelic Movement Party’s candidate in Southend is standing on a pledge to ignore the law and open a 24-hour cannabis cafe.
Some candidates make no secret of using the election as a platform for campaigning, such as Chris French, who is running his pub “The Mitre” in Richmond, west London, as a political party.
According to polls, Labour Party leader Starmer will be the next leader of Britain. Muppets’ “Elmo” will compete for his seat.
Like Count Binface, Elmo has also stood in several elections, although Bobby Smith, the one in red, wants to make a serious political point and change the law on fathers’ rights.
Binface himself hid a serious message behind these jokes, saying that it is important to protect democracy in a year when “more than half of the eligible people on your planet” are going to vote.
“I’m here to cherish it, to defend it, to celebrate the fact that not only can anyone in Britain vote, but all of you can stand in an election, no matter what your platform or how silly you might look,” he said. “I urge everyone … to go out to vote, and most importantly, make your vote count.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
