# How Nigel Farage ended up facing off with a bin

An episode of [7am](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1461999702), 12 Aug 2026, 17 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/62723a1f-3e96-4fc4-882c-b25e0181da4d/384ed41f-5972-47db-8aa5-b4a4006926a5/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=70f29d90-2a63-48aa-bf8f-b25e0181da70

Just when you thought world politics couldn’t get any more ridiculous: tonight, far-right British politician Nigel Farage is set to face a by-election of his own making. His main opponent? A joke candidate by the name of Count Binface, who says he’s an alien space warrior, and wears a superhero costume featuring a bin for a head. The contest has turned into a circus, but the five-million-pound donation scandal which prompted it, is deadly serious. Today, European correspondent for the Australian Financial Review, Andrew Tillett, on the contest, the scandal behind it, and the parallels between Farage and Australia’s far-right offering, One Nation. If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support. Socials: Stay in touch with us on Instagram Guest: European correspondent for the Australian Financial Review, Andrew Tillett Photo: PA/Alamy See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Just when you thought world politics couldn't get any more ridiculous.
[0:05] Speaker 2: Well let's turn to the Bin himself.
[0:07] Speaker 3: Count Binface joins us in the studio.
[0:09] Speaker 4: Hello Bin, it's count actually, but it's lovely to meet you, Paddy.
[0:14] Speaker 4: The one.
[0:15] Speaker 1: Tonight, far right British politician Nigel Farage is set to
[0:18] Speaker 1: go head to head in a by election of his own,
[0:20] Speaker 1: making his main opponent a joke candidate by the name
[0:24] Speaker 1: of Count Binface who says he's an alien space warrior
[0:27] Speaker 1: and wears a superhero costume featuring a bin for a head.
[0:32] Speaker 4: Maybe this is just a group hallucination. Maybe we're all
[0:35] Speaker 4: in one of Christopher Nolan's inceptions, and it's a giant
[0:38] Speaker 4: publicity stunt for the Odyssey.
[0:40] Speaker 2: Who knows.
[0:40] Speaker 1: But the thing is the contest has turned into a circus.
[0:44] Speaker 1: But the five million pound donation scandal which prompted it
[0:47] Speaker 1: is deadly serious. I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to
[0:53] Speaker 1: seven AM today. European correspondent for the Australian Financial Review
[0:57] Speaker 1: Andrew Tillet on the contests, gandal behind it and the
[1:01] Speaker 1: parallels between Farage and Australia is far right offering one nation.
[1:08] Speaker 1: It's Thursday, August thirteenth, So Andrew, tonight people in Clacton,
[1:18] Speaker 1: which is this little seaside town near London, are going
[1:22] Speaker 1: out to vote, and this by election that they're heading
[1:25] Speaker 1: to it really didn't have to happen. It's entirely of
[1:28] Speaker 1: Nigel Farage's making. So tell me about why it is
[1:32] Speaker 1: that he triggered this.
[1:33] Speaker 5: Well scentually Ruby, it's emerging the last few weeks that
[1:36] Speaker 5: Farage was given a few weeks before the twenty twenty
[1:40] Speaker 5: four general election here in the UK five million pounds
[1:43] Speaker 5: by a crypto currency tycoon called Christopher Harborn. And this
[1:47] Speaker 5: now questions over just what such a gift.
[1:51] Speaker 3: In tails Nigel Farage? Please, what has happened to this
[1:54] Speaker 3: five million pound gift?
[1:56] Speaker 2: With all due respect?
[1:57] Speaker 6: What's it going to do with you?
[1:58] Speaker 4: Well?
[1:58] Speaker 3: Because it speaks to the position you hold an office.
[2:01] Speaker 3: Initially we were told that it was because of your
[2:03] Speaker 3: personal security and it would pay for that for the
[2:06] Speaker 3: rest of your life. Then apparently it was some kind
[2:08] Speaker 3: of reward for campaigning for Brexit. I am told we
[2:11] Speaker 3: have two different stories, which is the truth. I think
[2:14] Speaker 3: you're controdicting yourself there, aren't you. Well, if you tell me.
[2:16] Speaker 5: Farage didn't declare it in his Register of MP's interests,
[2:22] Speaker 5: similar to what we have in Australia. He yes, oh
[2:24] Speaker 5: this money, it was a personal gift. I wasn't a
[2:27] Speaker 5: candidate at the time.
[2:28] Speaker 2: It's an unconditional gift.
[2:30] Speaker 6: I can spend it on Ferraris if I Want'd entirely
[2:33] Speaker 6: up to me.
[2:33] Speaker 5: But the rules are pretty clear, I say MPs, when
[2:37] Speaker 5: they get elected, any gifts and benefits they have received
[2:40] Speaker 5: in twelve months before their election they have to declare.
[2:43] Speaker 5: And so we have this sort of situation where there
[2:47] Speaker 5: was all this scrutiny over it, and so Forrag just
[2:49] Speaker 5: sided to say, right, I'm going to short circuit. This
[2:51] Speaker 5: will throw open to my constituency whether they're still what
[2:54] Speaker 5: me is my MP.
[2:55] Speaker 6: Today I will resign as a Member of Parliament for
[2:59] Speaker 6: Clacton on Sea, thereby forcing a by election, which would
[3:04] Speaker 6: happen I hope in short order. Now I've decided that
[3:08] Speaker 6: the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions.
[3:13] Speaker 6: This will be a people versus the establishment by election.
[3:18] Speaker 6: It's a chance to stick two fingers up to the
[3:21] Speaker 6: entire establishment.
[3:23] Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so we've got Farage trying to deflect from
[3:26] Speaker 1: this scrutiny over his finances by calling this by election,
[3:30] Speaker 1: but that seems to have gone awry when the major
[3:33] Speaker 1: parties decided to not actually field any of their own candidates.
[3:36] Speaker 5: Right yeah, I'm the Labor Party of the Liberal Democrat Party,
[3:40] Speaker 5: the Conservative Party, the Greens, Restore UK, who's another sort
[3:44] Speaker 5: of minor party on the right.
[3:46] Speaker 2: Devil said, noap, this is a stunt.
[3:48] Speaker 5: We're not going to indulge Farage in this by giving
[3:53] Speaker 5: it sort of credibility. So we've ended up in this
[3:56] Speaker 5: sort of effect where Farads is essentially running against himself
[4:00] Speaker 5: plus thirty three other various novelties and misfits and single
[4:05] Speaker 5: ish year people and independence and things like that. So
[4:08] Speaker 5: it's all become quite a circus.
[4:13] Speaker 1: And there's one of those thirty three that has attracted
[4:16] Speaker 1: more attention than the others. Tell me about Count Binface.
[4:25] Speaker 5: Yeah yeah. Count Binface is the politician that Britain didn't
[4:28] Speaker 5: know they needed, but he sort of seems to have
[4:30] Speaker 5: captured a bit of a zeitgeist. He's a creation of
[4:41] Speaker 5: a sort of a comic writer at Jonathan Harvey who
[4:45] Speaker 5: sort of came up with Count bin Face as he's
[4:48] Speaker 5: sort of like an intergalactic explorers is his backstory?
[4:51] Speaker 6: Appear to be in out of space and wearing your bin?
[4:55] Speaker 4: Well, what else would you expect mate? You know, I
[4:58] Speaker 4: was on my way back home to Sigma No but
[5:00] Speaker 4: of R and R and an old Nigel throws his
[5:04] Speaker 4: toyes out of the prem as a hessy fit called
[5:07] Speaker 4: an unnecessary by election. I got wind of that. I've
[5:10] Speaker 4: turned around the starship pronto.
[5:12] Speaker 2: How about that?
[5:13] Speaker 7: Lovely?
[5:15] Speaker 5: He sort of devices that he satirizes the political process.
[5:20] Speaker 6: What is your appeal going to be to the people
[5:22] Speaker 6: of Clacton.
[5:24] Speaker 4: I'm not Nigel Farage.
[5:30] Speaker 5: He's run against prime ministers before in the Seas general elections,
[5:34] Speaker 5: in by elections, He's run for Mayor of London in
[5:37] Speaker 5: the past. In faces has been a bit of a joke.
[5:40] Speaker 5: Just now one sort of taken him seriously. But because
[5:43] Speaker 5: of the lack of organized opposition, and this guy just
[5:46] Speaker 5: stands out.
[5:46] Speaker 2: He literally just.
[5:47] Speaker 5: Has quite a huge bin for a head and this
[5:50] Speaker 5: sort of really funky little spacesuits as his costume.
[5:53] Speaker 2: He's sort of become the rallying.
[5:56] Speaker 5: Call for people who's looking to make a protest against
[6:01] Speaker 5: against Ferrad.
[6:04] Speaker 8: N Paige Sin face face absolutely, because you want camp
[6:08] Speaker 8: in Face to be your elected representative in parliam.
[6:10] Speaker 4: Havet's manifesto and there is a lot of rubbish in there, don't.
[6:14] Speaker 1: Get me wrong.
[6:15] Speaker 2: Is it basically against against for ours?
[6:20] Speaker 5: These policies, some are pretty funny.
[6:24] Speaker 2: You know, he wants to nationalize a deal.
[6:26] Speaker 4: I mean some of my national policies will remain. I
[6:29] Speaker 4: pledged to build at least one affordable house. I will
[6:33] Speaker 4: nationalize adele. I heard you a bit about the water,
[6:36] Speaker 4: and I'll make water bosses have to take a dip
[6:38] Speaker 4: in British lievers to see how they like it. I'll
[6:41] Speaker 4: price cap ninety nine flakes at ninety nine pence. I
[6:45] Speaker 4: think the Clacton folk were like that one.
[6:48] Speaker 5: It's sort of longing up with what would have been
[6:50] Speaker 5: a pretty dull election campaign.
[6:54] Speaker 1: And as you say, this isn't the first time that
[6:56] Speaker 1: Campinface has contested a seat. And there is this history,
[7:00] Speaker 1: isn't there in the UK of joke candidates like this
[7:03] Speaker 1: running in elections.
[7:05] Speaker 2: Yeah, there's back to the sixties and seventies.
[7:07] Speaker 5: You know it sort of started screaming awards such and
[7:10] Speaker 5: the monster raving Looney Party.
[7:12] Speaker 6: I think the best policy we've discussed and what's come
[7:15] Speaker 6: out of is we're going to do away with January
[7:17] Speaker 6: February so we can have a shorter winter, and I
[7:20] Speaker 6: think that's an ideal.
[7:21] Speaker 5: The Loonies have got about three candidates they're running in
[7:24] Speaker 5: the by election. These are guys they sort of dress
[7:28] Speaker 5: up in very sort of colorful costumes, you know, big
[7:31] Speaker 5: hats and real oversized yellow rosettes and things like that.
[7:35] Speaker 4: The first cabinet reshuffle.
[7:40] Speaker 1: And you mentioned the way that Farage sort of wants
[7:43] Speaker 1: to present himself as anti establishment, and I think that's
[7:46] Speaker 1: part of the reason that this by election is so
[7:50] Speaker 1: interesting as an outsider, because Forage himself, at least at
[7:54] Speaker 1: the beginning of his political career, was considered fringe, and
[7:57] Speaker 1: he certainly wants to see himself as or portray himself
[8:01] Speaker 1: as a political outsider. So there's something quite fascinating and
[8:04] Speaker 1: watching him define himself as the more legitimate candidate against
[8:08] Speaker 1: a guy with a bin on his face.
[8:11] Speaker 2: Well, it's funny.
[8:12] Speaker 5: The whole outsider attitude for rasis because this guy went
[8:15] Speaker 5: to a private school, worked as a trader and in
[8:18] Speaker 5: the city he made millions and then and then nine
[8:21] Speaker 5: he started dabbling in politics and emerged as this sort
[8:26] Speaker 5: of fringe eurosceptic campaigner. But he'd run seven times support
[8:33] Speaker 5: to try and win a seat in Westminster before he
[8:35] Speaker 5: won Clackton at his eighth attempt, so he's always just
[8:38] Speaker 5: sort of seen his bit of this ravel rouser on
[8:39] Speaker 5: the right. But yeah, he still very much portrays himself
[8:44] Speaker 5: as Nigel versus what they call here the Unie Party,
[8:49] Speaker 5: that the major labor conservative party, and that he's the
[8:53] Speaker 5: one taking on the establishment. But it's an interesting image
[8:56] Speaker 5: given that he's sort of like no rag so which
[8:58] Speaker 5: is sort of story.
[9:00] Speaker 1: And so none of these candidates are a real threat
[9:02] Speaker 1: to Farage? Was that clear from the outset? Is that
[9:06] Speaker 1: why none of the major parties even tried to stand
[9:10] Speaker 1: Because you'd think that they might have taken the opportunity
[9:13] Speaker 1: to try and contest against Farage, So why didn't they?
[9:17] Speaker 2: Well, well then it's Eastiful. I'm in post in Essex.
[9:21] Speaker 5: It's an older, poorer and wider electric than most of
[9:25] Speaker 5: the country, so it's very much placed to Farage's strengths.
[9:30] Speaker 2: But you know, in running Farrage.
[9:31] Speaker 5: Is put on hold this sort of Parliamentary Standards Commission
[9:35] Speaker 5: investigation into the five million pound donation. That process, if
[9:39] Speaker 5: he wins the seat, that will restart and that may
[9:42] Speaker 5: well find adverse finings against Farage, and then we could
[9:45] Speaker 5: be back here again in a few months time having
[9:48] Speaker 5: another Biola, and that is when the major parties will
[9:51] Speaker 5: hop in, you know, they'll hopefully then be out from
[9:53] Speaker 5: that point of view, be able to then argue, well,
[9:56] Speaker 5: this guy has done the wrong thing.
[9:57] Speaker 2: You should turf him out.
[10:02] Speaker 5: And again the five billion though, has just got such
[10:05] Speaker 5: headlines because it's just such a big, huge summer money,
[10:09] Speaker 5: you know, almost ten million dollars. Could you imagine a
[10:12] Speaker 5: politician's sto being given ten million dollars by a wealthy diary.
[10:15] Speaker 5: It's just sort of extraordinary. So come Friday we may
[10:21] Speaker 5: well start seeing these questions being raised again by the question.
[10:30] Speaker 1: Still to come the similarities between Nigel Farage and Pauline Hanson.
[10:40] Speaker 1: And so you've been in Clacton talking to people who
[10:43] Speaker 1: are going to go out and vote. What sense do
[10:46] Speaker 1: you get about what they think of both the donations
[10:50] Speaker 1: and the lack of declaration and the kind of inability
[10:54] Speaker 1: that Forage has had to answer what's actually going on
[10:57] Speaker 1: with the money.
[10:58] Speaker 5: I think it's pretty polarized for people who really believe
[11:02] Speaker 5: in Farage. And then there's sort of elements here of
[11:05] Speaker 5: you know, comparisons to people a Donald Trump and Pauline
[11:08] Speaker 5: Hanson in terms of like voters who just think these
[11:12] Speaker 5: people can do no wrong and see media scrutiny and
[11:15] Speaker 5: political taxes sort of the establishment getting up on them.
[11:19] Speaker 1: So do you feel even more in bold invate for
[11:22] Speaker 1: Nigel Fararge this time.
[11:23] Speaker 2: The last time? Yeah, definitely.
[11:25] Speaker 4: You know they're all getting at him and all that.
[11:28] Speaker 2: It's like the new prime minister. You've got to give
[11:30] Speaker 2: them a chance, all the stuff, you know, with the donations,
[11:33] Speaker 2: because that's part of the reason you step down.
[11:36] Speaker 3: What do you make of all that?
[11:38] Speaker 1: They're all like it, They all do the same thing.
[11:41] Speaker 2: So they're real sort of die hard for Arge supporters.
[11:44] Speaker 5: They're sort of like they're willing to excuse or forgive
[11:47] Speaker 5: the five million gift, you know, sort of saying you know,
[11:51] Speaker 5: he needs it.
[11:53] Speaker 2: I came across a few people who are very sort of.
[11:57] Speaker 5: Dubious about it and sort of think, you know, five
[12:01] Speaker 5: million pounds there are strings attached no matter what Farage,
[12:05] Speaker 5: and people might say, you know, since that he's going
[12:08] Speaker 5: to maybe act that this person's behest ferrage has a
[12:12] Speaker 5: very sort of pro crypto currency policy position. So there's
[12:17] Speaker 5: a danger that people may see him as just another
[12:21] Speaker 5: politician because of it. But I don't think it's going
[12:24] Speaker 5: to cost him the seat. Forage himself has never been
[12:27] Speaker 5: personally popular in the terms of national polls and stuff
[12:30] Speaker 5: like that. But Reform as a party has sort of
[12:34] Speaker 5: come off the boil a bit in the last couple
[12:36] Speaker 5: of months for different reasons.
[12:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, tell me about why you think that is, Like,
[12:40] Speaker 1: how much is this scandal playing into that? Is it
[12:43] Speaker 1: to do with the new Labor prime minister? Why has
[12:47] Speaker 1: Reformed popularity gone down in recent months?
[12:50] Speaker 5: There's not just one factor involved. I mean, Kirstarmer was
[12:54] Speaker 5: a deeply unpopular prime minister and the beneficial the major
[12:58] Speaker 5: beneficiary that had been agreeing to some extent, and also
[13:02] Speaker 5: Reform on the right, you know, with white working class
[13:06] Speaker 5: normal labor supporters going and throwing their support behind Faraj.
[13:11] Speaker 2: The Labor Party.
[13:12] Speaker 5: You know, a month of Sogo got attack together and
[13:14] Speaker 5: replaced Starmer with Andy Burnham, who's seen as a much
[13:18] Speaker 5: more relatable politician.
[13:20] Speaker 8: Three things you probably already know about me. I go
[13:23] Speaker 8: to a lot of gigs. I do like a paint
[13:25] Speaker 8: and I have been known to give a DJ set
[13:27] Speaker 8: from time to time. Well, today's announcement is very close
[13:30] Speaker 8: to my heart. I'm giving thousands of pubs, clubs and
[13:33] Speaker 8: music venues are twenty percent cut in their business rates.
[13:36] Speaker 8: These places deserve.
[13:38] Speaker 5: So he's made the Labor Party competitive and has given
[13:41] Speaker 5: voters a reason to have a second look at Labor.
[13:44] Speaker 5: At the same time, FORADS has had this sort of trouble,
[13:47] Speaker 5: the question over the donations, a bit of a sense
[13:50] Speaker 5: of drift around the party. That Reform did really well
[13:53] Speaker 5: at the May local elections, which were devastating for Starmer,
[13:57] Speaker 5: but they haven't really been able to sort of capitalize
[14:00] Speaker 5: the Conservatives that sort of started to get their act
[14:03] Speaker 5: together as well and trying to reclaim a bit of
[14:05] Speaker 5: the territory they've lost to Ferrage as well. So it's
[14:09] Speaker 5: politics is getting a lot more competitive now. But I
[14:12] Speaker 5: think the big change is Andy Burnham's arrival as PM.
[14:15] Speaker 5: It's it's a completely different dynamic and Farage has been
[14:18] Speaker 5: a bit wrong footed and just hasn't been able to
[14:20] Speaker 5: sort of find his line and linked against a new,
[14:24] Speaker 5: more able opponent.
[14:26] Speaker 1: And here in Australia. Pauline Hanson's One Nation is also
[14:29] Speaker 1: facing a lot of scrutiny over its funding and over
[14:32] Speaker 1: Hanson's close ties to billionaire Gina Reinhart. Do you get
[14:37] Speaker 1: the sense that she's at the risk of falling into
[14:39] Speaker 1: some of these same potholes as Farage. Do you see
[14:41] Speaker 1: any similarities there?
[14:43] Speaker 2: It is very interesting because like Pauline was over here
[14:46] Speaker 2: a few weeks ago and met with ferrage O, Yeah.
[14:51] Speaker 7: I'm not met yet. You've got a simple for going
[14:56] Speaker 7: on down that what do you think of her? Well
[15:00] Speaker 7: that she never presents to me once she's not those
[15:04] Speaker 7: She's remarkable as you, remarkable as you keep.
[15:07] Speaker 5: The immigration debate in both countries is very similar at
[15:10] Speaker 5: the moment, and in Farage and Hanson has sort of
[15:13] Speaker 5: adopted a similar sort of anti immigration stances.
[15:18] Speaker 2: Obviously we have different donation.
[15:20] Speaker 5: Laws and scrutinies, and I don't think there's been any
[15:22] Speaker 5: suggestion that Hanson has done anything wrong in terms of
[15:26] Speaker 5: following the rules in the way that Farage has. But
[15:29] Speaker 5: it goes to this image of these battlers, anti establishment types.
[15:34] Speaker 5: They're hanging around with big money money that sort of
[15:38] Speaker 5: has a vested interest attached to it, and I think
[15:41] Speaker 5: Hanson needs to be careful being seen as you know,
[15:45] Speaker 5: as someone who's doing gender reine Art's bidding can be
[15:48] Speaker 5: very dangerous to sort of get into that trap.
[15:51] Speaker 1: I think, well, Andrew, thank you so much for speaking
[15:55] Speaker 1: with me.
[15:55] Speaker 2: Thanks really appreciate it.
[16:07] Speaker 1: Also in the news, the Commonwealth Bank has become the
[16:09] Speaker 1: latest big lender to report a drop in lending due
[16:12] Speaker 1: to the property market slump. There's been a fifteen percent
[16:15] Speaker 1: drop in mortgage lending since the budget was handed down,
[16:18] Speaker 1: with the sharpest fall in investor loans. The bank expects
[16:22] Speaker 1: first home buyers to enter the property market once they
[16:24] Speaker 1: expect interest rates to fall. And the Liberals have shut
[16:28] Speaker 1: down colleague Andrew Bragg's comments that migration might be slashed
[16:32] Speaker 1: to one hundred and eighty thousand a year with cuts
[16:34] Speaker 1: to backpackers and international students. They say Bragg's speech at
[16:38] Speaker 1: the Press Club on Wednesday doesn't reflect the agreed position
[16:42] Speaker 1: of the Shadow Cabinet, The Coalition, One Nation and Labor
[16:45] Speaker 1: are all yet to release their targets for net migration.
[16:49] Speaker 1: I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am. Thanks for listening.

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