Just days before the Clacton by-election takes place, a message has appeared in the skies for those in the area who may still be unsure who to give their vote to.
The Count Binface vs Nigel Farage political fight is just days away – and one pilot has made his feelings on who they want to win very well known.
Just days before the Clacton by-election takes place, a message has appeared in the skies for those in the area who may still be unsure who to give their vote to.
A pilot has traced the shape of a bin with their flightpath near the coastal town in the skies, which has shown up on flight maps.
According to flight tracking data from Flightradar24, the light aircraft took off from Earls Colne airfield in Essex at 2.48pm on Saturday and landed at 4.13pm, with the unknown pilot taking their time to draw something very special with their route.
They spent the time flying above the sea off Clacton, zig-zagging to create a flightpath in the shape of a bin – in support of the bin going against Reform’s Farage.
The plane is privately owned according to Flightradar24 and it is not known who flew it during the stunt. Voters are set to head to the polls this coming Thursday in the by-election, which was triggered by Farage’s resignation.
The Reform man is being investigated by the parliamentary standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg over a £5m gift from cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne, which he received before taking his seat in the Commons.
He was slammed for accepting and not declaring the money when he got his seat in parliament, and it triggered an investigation – which was then suspended upon his resignation.
It is expected that same investigation will be resumed should he win his seat back later this week.
If he is found to have broken the rules and a suspension of more than 10 days is imposed, it could trigger a recall petition and the prospect of Mr Farage losing his seat again, forcing a second contest.
Farage has maintained his innocence, previously claiming that he has “not broken the law in any way at all” and warned the standards probe was “now being used as a political tool” to try and remove him from the political pool.
The Reform leader had envisioned the contest as a “people versus the establishment” showdown, but he now finds himself up against a bin and a number of other candidates, including some from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.
All the main Westminster parties, including Labour, the Tories, Lib Dems and the Greens have boycotted the by-election, saying they will not involve themselves in Reform’s stunt.
Yvette Cooper called the move by Mr Farage a “political tantrum” and others said it was a “distraction” from allegations made about his financial affairs.
And it is still not known who is likely to get the seat.
A survey by Survation for Mandate Research of voters in Clacton suggests Farage would win 73% of the vote, while an an Ipsos poll asking the general public who they would vote for had a third of Brits saying they would vote Count Binface to win the race, while only 21% backed the Reform UK leader.