| Count Binface | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | 12 December 2018 |
| Portrayed by | Jonathan David Harvey (2018–present) |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Political satirist |
| Nationality | British |
Count Binface is a satirical political candidate created by the British comedian Jonathan David Harvey[1] in 2018.[2] He was a candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the 2019 United Kingdom general election against prime minister Boris Johnson. He also stood in the 2021 London mayoral election.
In earlier elections, Harvey stood as Lord Buckethead, but was forced to change the character due to a copyright dispute with the American filmmaker Todd Durham, who created Lord Buckethead for his 1984 science fiction film Hyperspace.[3][4]
In 2019, another individual contested the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat as Buckethead, representing the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, to which Binface said he "look[s] forward to both the hustings and to challenging [him] to take part in a receptacle-to-receptacle debate".[5]
When Johnson resigned as an MP in 2023, Binface again stood as a candidate in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, finishing eighth of 17.
Character
Count Binface is an independent space warrior[6] in a black and grey costume, with a long silver cape and a helmet shaped somewhat like a dustbin with a glowing strip where his eyes would be. Binface claimed to be 5,965 years old in 2019.[7]
2019 general election policies
Binface announced a series of satirical policies for the 2019 general election, including:
- Bringing back Ceefax, the teletext service.[6] He had previously promised to bring back the service in 2017 as Lord Buckethead.[8]
- Returning 20,001 police officers to the street, a reference to the Conservative pledge of 20,000 more police officers.[9]
- Nationalising model railways.[10]
- Holding a referendum on holding a second referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the European Union.[10]
- Allowing any Czechs on the Irish Border to remain.[10]
- Nationalising Adele, the English singer.[11]
- Abolishing the House of Lords.[11] He had previously pledged the same in 2017 as Lord Buckethead.[12]
- Giving free broadband to everyone.[11]
- Stopping the sale of arms to repressive regimes.[11]
- Making Piers Morgan zero emissions by 2030.[11]
- Renaming London Bridge to "Phoebe Waller-Bridge".[11]
- Introducing a minimum voting age of 16 and a maximum of 80.[11]
- Sending £1 trillion a week to the NHS.[10]
- Proroguing Jacob Rees-Mogg.[10]
- Banishing Katie Hopkins to the Phantom Zone.[10]
- Moving the hand dryer in the men's toilet at Uxbridge's Crown and Treaty pub to a "more sensible position".[10]
London mayoral election
Binface announced his intention to stand for the London Mayoral Election, which was originally scheduled for 2020, but was delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He announced a suite of 21 policies which "marries fiscal responsibility, social awareness, and not being an anti-vaccine nutjob", including:
- Finish Crossrail.[13]
- Free parking for electric vehicles between Vine Street and the Strand,[13] in reference to where the Free Parking space is located on the British Monopoly board.
- London to join the European Union.[13]
- Renaming London Bridge to "Phoebe Waller-Bridge" and Hammersmith Bridge to "Wayne Bridge".[13]
- All government ministers' pay, including that of the mayors, should be tied to that of nurses for the next 100 years.[14]
- Loud snacks to be banned from theatres.[15]
- The use of the speakerphone function on mobile phones to be banned in public. Any offenders caught will be forced to watch the film version of Cats every day for a year.[16]
Binface started a fundraiser to raise £10,000, the amount necessary to allow him to stand for Mayor of London. The excess money was donated to charity Shelter to help combat homelessness.[13] He finished ninth with 24,775 votes in the mayoral election.[17]
Electoral history
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Boris Johnson | 25,351 | 52.6 | +1.8 | |
| Labour | Ali Milani | 18,141 | 37.6 | −2.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Joanne Humphreys | 3,026 | 6.3 | +2.3 | |
| Green | Mark Keir | 1,090 | 2.3 | +0.4 | |
| UKIP | Geoffrey Courtenay | 283 | 0.6 | −2.8 | |
| Monster Raving Loony | Lord Buckethead | 125 | 0.3 | N/A | |
| Independent | Count Binface | 69 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| Independent | Alfie Utting | 44 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| Independent | Yace Yogenstein | 23 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Independent | Norma Burke | 22 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Independent | Bobby Elmo Smith | 8 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Independent | William Tobin | 5 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Turnout | 48,174 | 68.5 | +1.7 | ||
| Mayor of London election 6 May 2021 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | First round votes Transfer votes | ||||
| Total | Of round | Transfers | Total | Of round | ||||
| Labour | Sadiq Khan | 1,013,721 | 40.0% | 192,313 | 1,206,034 | 55.2% |
| |
| Conservative | Shaun Bailey | 893,051 | 35.3% | 84,550 | 977,601 | 44.8% |
| |
| Green | Siân Berry | 197,976 | 7.8% |
| ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Luisa Porritt | 111,716 | 4.4% |
| ||||
| Independent | Niko Omilana | 49,628 | 2.0% |
| ||||
| Reclaim | Laurence Fox | 47,634 | 1.9% |
| ||||
| London Real | Brian Rose | 31,111 | 1.2% |
| ||||
| Rejoin EU | Richard Hewison | 28,012 | 1.1% |
| ||||
| Count Binface | Count Binface | 24,775 | 1.0% |
| ||||
| Women's Equality | Mandu Reid | 21,182 | 0.8% |
| ||||
| Let London Live | Piers Corbyn | 20,604 | 0.8% |
| ||||
| Animal Welfare | Vanessa Hudson | 16,826 | 0.7% |
| ||||
| UKIP | Peter Gammons | 14,393 | 0.6% |
| ||||
| Independent | Farah London | 11,869 | 0.5% |
| ||||
| Heritage | David Kurten | 11,025 | 0.4% |
| ||||
| Independent | Nims Obunge | 9,682 | 0.4% |
| ||||
| SDP | Steve Kelleher | 8,764 | 0.3% |
| ||||
| Renew | Kam Balayev | 7,774 | 0.3% |
| ||||
| Independent | Max Fosh | 6,309 | 0.2% |
| ||||
| Burning Pink | Valerie Brown | 5,305 | 0.2% |
| ||||
| Labour hold | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Steve Tuckwell | 13,965 | 45.2 | −7.4 | |
| Labour | Danny Beales | 13,470 | 43.6 | +6.0 | |
| Green | Sarah Green | 893 | 2.9 | +0.7 | |
| Reclaim | Laurence Fox | 714 | 2.3 | New | |
| Liberal Democrats | Blaise Baquiche | 526 | 1.7 | -4.6 | |
| SDP | Steve Gardner | 248 | 0.8 | New | |
| Independent | Kingsley Hamilton Anti-Ulez[lower-alpha 1] | 208 | 0.7 | New | |
| Count Binface | Count Binface | 190 | 0.6 | +0.5 | |
| Independent | No-Ulez Leo Phaure[lower-alpha 1] | 186 | 0.6 | New | |
| Rejoin EU | Richard Hewison | 105 | 0.3 | New | |
| Let London Live | Piers Corbyn | 101 | 0.3 | New | |
| Independent | Cameron Bell | 91 | 0.3 | New | |
| CPA | Enomfon Ntefon | 78 | 0.3 | New | |
| UKIP | Rebecca Jane | 61 | 0.2 | -0.4 | |
| Climate | Ed Gemmell | 49 | 0.2 | New | |
| Monster Raving Loony | Howling Laud Hope | 32 | 0.1 | −0.2 | |
| Independent | 77 Joseph[lower-alpha 2] | 8 | 0.0 | New | |
| Majority | 495 | 1.6 | −13.4 | ||
| Turnout | 31,000 | 46.23 |  17.3 | ||
| Registered electors | |||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | −6.7 | |||
Notes
- 1 2 Names "Anti-Ulez"[21] and "No-Ulez"[22] indicate opposition to London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
- ↑ Otherwise known as Thomas Faithful Darwood, his ballot name alludes to Pharaoh's dream interpreted by Joseph in the Book of Genesis.[23]
See also
- Vermin Supreme, an American satirical candidate.
References
- ↑ "New MPs elected at July by-elections". parliament.uk. 21 July 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ↑ Cockburn, Harry (15 November 2019). "Former Lord Buckethead takes aim at rival candidate who took his name as he bids to unseat Boris Johnson". The Independent. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ↑ Waterson, Jim (26 May 2019). "Double trouble: the fight to be the real Lord Buckethead". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
'People should know it's not the same person,' said comedian Jon Harvey, confirming for the first time that he was the man in the plastic mask during the 2017 general election. 'It's being run by an American from Beverly Hills.'
- ↑ "Comedian Jon Harvey to take on Boris Johnson as Count Binface". comedy.co.uk. 14 November 2019. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
'Harvey previously took on Theresa May as Lord Buckethead, but has changed the character after an American-lead copyright dispute'
- ↑ Jamieson, Alastair (17 November 2019). "Boris versus Binface: The barmy battles in Britain's 'Brexit election'". euronews. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- 1 2 Morrison, Sean (14 November 2019). "Man behind Lord Buckethead to run in PM constituency under new alias". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ↑ "Johnson rival Binface makes bid for Christmas number one". Hillingdon & Uxbridge Times. 6 December 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ↑ Heritage, Stuart (8 June 2017). "The 2017 election awards: from best eating of a Pringle to biggest dolt". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ↑ "Johnson rival Binface makes bid for Christmas number one". South West Londoner. 6 December 2019. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "MANIFESTO!". www.countbinface.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sharma, Ruchira (6 December 2019). "Count Binface lost the rights to Lord Buckethead, but he's still fighting the PM". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ↑ Delahunty, Stephen (6 June 2017). "Alternative Maidenhead candidates go head-to-head at hustings". Maidenhead Advertiser. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Count Binface Runs for Mayor of London". YouTube.
- ↑ "London 2021 Manifesto". Count Binface. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ↑ "Count Binface Twitter ನಲ್ಲಿ: 'Here is my full manifesto for London. Can any other candidate beat this? No chance! #VoteBinface #MakeYourVoteCount...'". Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ↑ Count Binface meets Owen Jones, archived from the original on 5 May 2021, retrieved 6 May 2021
- ↑ "Results 2021". London Elects. 9 May 2021. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "Uxbridge & Ruislip South parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 November 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
- ↑ Rufo, Yasmin (23 June 2023). "Uxbridge by-election full candidate list revealed". BBC News. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
- ↑ "Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election 2023 results". Hillingdon Council. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
- ↑ "Candidate Kingsley Hamilton". Getty Images. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- ↑ "Candidate Leo Phaure". Getty Images. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- ↑ "Joseph77". Joseph77. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
External links
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