- Count Binface has made it onto the candidate list to become mayor of London
- In the last mayoral election, he came 9th out of 20 candidates
- Fights for justice, lasers and affordable croissants
He is an intergalactic space warrior and he wants to become mayor of London. Yes, you read that right. Count Binface is his name, and he is fighting for justice, lasers and affordable croissants, among other things.
Binface claims to be the leader of the Recyclons from planet Sigma IX and has come back to earth “Because democracy is in deep trouble, and to download the complete works of Chris Rea” [80/90s AOR singer] he says on his website.
This isn’t the first time Binface has made a bid for office in the UK. He first appeared on Earth in 2017 and stood against then-Prime Minister Thereas May in that year’s general election – as Lord Buckethead – and quickly went viral.
In 2019, he appeared again, this time as Count Binface – after the result of what he calls “an unfortunate battle on planet Copyright” – to take on Boris Johnson in that year’s election. Again, he lost, polling 69 votes.
He also fought in the 2021 London mayoral election, garnering 92,986 votes (24,775 of those as people’s first choice), coming 9th out of 20 candidates, defeating established political party UKIP in the process.
One person who won’t be on the ballot paper is actor-turned-political-activist Lawrence Fox. The former actor on shows such as ‘Lewis’ has courted controversy in recent years for his political views. He had planned to run for mayor but has not made it onto the ballot paper due to errors in the documents he submitted as part of his application. He previously ran in 2019 but received a tiny minority of votes.
While it is unlikely Binface will win – the mayoral race is thought likely to be a fight between current incumbent, Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party and Susan Hall for the Conservative Party – there is a long history of joke candidates in British politics, who make the race more entertaining, but also can make some pertinent points about the silliness of politics, in some cases.
