Carol Vorderman urges Clacton voters to again ‘Banksy of Politics’ Count Binface in Farage by-election battle
EXCLUSIVE: The Countdown legend, who labelled the Reform leader ‘awful’ and said she is a ‘big fan’ of PM Andy Burnham, also did not rule out going into politics herself
Carol Vorderman has urged voters in Clacton to back Count Binface in his by-election battle against Nigel Farage.
The Countdown legend, who labelled the Reform leader “awful”, also did not rule out going into politics herself. Mr Farage, under fire over funding revelations, triggered a by-election after quitting last month – claiming he wanted constituents to judge his actions.
But he has been accused of a political stunt, with major parties declining to stand candidates against him for Thursday’s vote. Mr Farage’s main challenger in the Essex constituency has emerged as Count Binface, who Carol has thrown her support behind.
Asked if she had any messages for the people of Clacton, Carol, 65, told the Mirror: “Bin for the win, bin for the win, bin for the win, bin for the win.” Binface’s pledges include a referendum on whether Pluto should regain its status as a planet and for Wayne Rooney to be an expert for the BBC’s coverage of Eurovision.
No fewer than 34 candidates are standing in the contest, including three wannabe MPs from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. It comes as Mr Farage has been probed by the parliamentary standards commissioner over an undeclared £5 million gift from crypto tycoon Christopher Harborne before he became an MP. Mr Farage has argued the gift was private and there was no obligation to declare it. The investigation was suspended due to his resignation, but set to resume if he wins the by-election.
In a piece penned for the Independent last month, Carol wrote: “I’m absolutely backing Binface. He’s like the Banksy of politics.” She added: “Reform UK had obviously prepped all these serious, slick campaign videos of Farage looking wistfully out to the Channel to run as part of his big summer relaunch, pitching the by-election as ‘people versus the establishment’. Well, the establishment is now a fake alien with a bin on his head. And everything Farage does from here on in is a joke.”
Asked if she had any thoughts of going into politics herself, Carol told the Mirror: “I’m not saying I won’t. I got very involved in the Makerfield by-election because… I’m a big fan of Andy Burnham. I’m not saying everything he does is right because I’m independent as far as a political party is concerned. But, I thought, he’s got to get in and become PM otherwise we could have the awful Farage…”
Mr Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election in June saw him return to Westminster and subsequently replace Keir Starmer as PM. In May, Carol demanded an apology from Reform UK’s candidate in the Makerfield contest.
It followed plumber Robert Kenyon being exposed for past vile social media comments including about Carol. In 2021, Mr Kenyon responded to a user on X who wrote a vulgar sexual message about Carol. After another user criticised the remark, Mr Kenyon said: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking.”
Mr Kenyon later told the BBC he had “not made sexual remarks about Carol Vorderman“, but responded to someone else’s post with a “crass joke”.
