Why a UK right-wing leader could soon battle a man dressed as a bin

As the race for the UK's new prime minister officially gets underway, many Brits could soon watch another political challenge unfold: a fight between a far-right leader and a man dressed as a bin.

UK Reform leader Nigel Farage earlier this week stood down as an MP, in what some critics have called a "desperate stunt" that could cost him his political career.

He resigned after being accused of failing to declare donations and other benefits in the months before he was elected to the UK Commons in 2024.

But he could soon be back in parliament, promising to recontest his seat in a by-election triggered by his resignation.

So far the only other challenger in the race for the seat of Clacton-on-Sea in the east of England is "Count Binface", the metal-clad alter-ego of London comedian Jon Harvey.

And while many critics think Mr Farage's move could backfire, others believe it could play to his advantage.

How did we get here?

The 62-year-old UK politician is facing intensifying scrutiny over his finances and millions of dollars' worth of donations.

He is accused of failing to declare donations and other benefits in the months before he was elected to the Commons in 2024.

Mr Farage has been referred to the UK parliament's standards commissioner, also known as the anti-sleaze watchdog, after reports he failed to declare assistance from George Cottrell, a 32-year-old cryptocurrency investor previously imprisoned in the US for wire fraud.

It was reported that the convicted fraudster also paid for Mr Farage's security and paid staff who worked on his social media shortly before he announced a return to politics in 2024.

Mr Farage is already the subject of a probe over the non-disclosure of a 5 million British pounds ($9.6 million) payment from British-Thai political donor Christopher Harborne, revealed by The Guardian in late April.

As the scandal unfolds, some commentators believe Mr Farage wants to "get on the front foot".

"He wanted to get ahead of the investigation, which could have resulted in a by-election being triggered, by triggering one himself," said Noa Hoffman, a political correspondent at The Spectator in London.

Mr Farage, who was a key architect in the Brexit movement, has denied any wrongdoing, declaring that "the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions".

He said the by-election was a "big gamble" but would be a chance for voters "to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them to go".

How have other parties responded?

Mr Farage might believe a big win in his seat could help him shore up support and galvanise his base, but Ms Hoffman said Reform UK's move "has somewhat backfired".

She said that was because other political parties in the UK are not going to take part in "the antics".

Mainstream parties in the UK have described the move as a stunt, and several parties, including Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and Restore Britain — a Reform splinter party — have said they will not field candidates.

The Conservatives described Mr Farage as having a "hissy fit" and slammed it as a "fake by-election", while Labour said it was a "circus" that their party would not indulge.

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey called on "all parties to stand aside and refuse to give oxygen to Farage's vanity project".

Minor parties that have said they would stand in the race include: Reclaim, a party set up by an actor-turned-campaigner; the Rejoin EU Party, which wants to overturn Brexit; the Climate Party, self-described as a "climate-serious" alternative to the Conservatives; and the Monster Raving Loony Party, a satirical party that calls itself the "shining light of British politics".

So far, the only declared candidate is Count Binface.

"Nigel Farage says he wants The People versus the Establishment. So be it. Leave him to me," he wrote on social media.

The comedian has stood for election multiple times in Britain, most recently in last month's special election in Makerfield, which was won by Andy Burnham, the man expected to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister.

Is Farage facing a 'crisis'?

The donations scandal is not the MP's only concern.

There are also threats to Reform UK from the right, with splinter party Restore Britain rising in popularity.

"This [donations investigation] is the biggest single crisis that he's faced to his leadership," Flinders University Associate Professor Rob Manwaring said.

"One symptom of that is the emergence of a new sort of challenger populist party … that tells you there's some real unease and difficulties ahead for him and his movement."

Dr Manwaring said populist parties such as Reform UK, which have surged in popularity in recent years, were experiencing a type of "growing pain," after being forced to become more professional, invest more money in running their organisation and in screening and vetting candidates.

"The lesson here is that actually these parties are probably having to catch up now to professionalise and also make sure they're making sure they're meeting the relevant disclosure regimes."

Could Farage's political manoeuvre work?

Mr Farage won the seat from the Conservatives in 2024 with a sizeable majority of 8,405, and is already considered likely to retain his seat.

The investigation into the 5 million British pounds gift from Harborne will be paused while Mr Farage is not an MP.

If Mr Farage is then re-elected, the investigation will resume, and even if Mr Farage loses the special election, the commissioner can still carry on the investigation at their discretion.

But the political gamble could play to Mr Farage's favour.

"By and large, many voters tend not to scrutinise them or to hold [anti-establishment parties] to that same level of accountability that they would do, the more established parties," Dr Manwaring said.

"One other feature of both the far right, sometimes you see it in the far left as well, is that it's often sometimes a grievance or a victim mentality that takes place."

Other experts in British politics agree that a "referendum" on Mr Farage's popularity could benefit the far-right leader.

"For people who like Nigel Farage, it will reinforce this idea that he is being persecuted by, if you like, the establishment, even though he's very part of the establishment himself," Ben Wellings, an Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at Monash University, told the ABC.

"This is a delaying tactic and a distracting tactic, and we've seen those tactics before from people on the radical right of politics in Europe: delay, distract, divert.

"Those kinds of things to refocus people's attention away from the substantive matter at hand."

The special election for Clacton-on-Sea is expected to take place within weeks.