Reform UK leader Nigel Farage beats Count Binface in widely mocked British election

LONDON (AP) — Nigel Farage beat trash-can wearing comic candidate Count Binface to regain the seat in Parliament he quit a month ago to trigger the widely mocked special election.

Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party who some see as a possible next prime minister, abruptly quit his seat in July amid an investigation into whether he failed to report a 5 million pound ($6.7 million) gift from a crypto billionaire overseas.

He said he would run for the open seat to prove he had voters’ support, and regained it with 63% of Thursday's vote. Binface, who finished in second, won about 27%, according to the results announced Friday. The election, held on the hottest day of the year so far, had turnout of 44%.

Binface, a serial candidate who has challenged prime ministers past and present, became the default challenger in a field of 34 candidates after the major parties boycotted the campaign as a political stunt by Farage.

Farage hailed the result as an “overwhelming win” with 1,000 more votes than he earned when first elected two years ago with 46% of the vote share. Turnout during the 2024 general election was nearly 60% and he faced a more robust field of mainstream candidates.

“Today the voters in Clacton have stuck up two fingers to the entire political establishment,” Farage said, referring to the British equivalent of a crude gesture that employs the middle finger in other cultures.

The victory by Farage showed his strong support in his conservative constituency on the east coast of England but it doesn’t ensure he’ll be able to keep the seat. An investigation by a parliamentary watchdog that was suspended when he stepped down is likely to resume and could still lead to Farage being forced out of Parliament to face yet another election.

Farage declared victory in the early morning and did not attend the official declaration where he would have had to stand alongside the other candidates, many of them running joke campaigns.

“I’m damned if I’m going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory ... and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” Farage told supporters at a victory party.

Farage said he didn’t attend because police told him about an “organized campaign to disrupt and degrade the result.” A spokesperson for Reform said there was a credible threat against him, though police disputed that.

Binface, who ran on a wacky platform that included a vow to “cut your taxes, and raise everyone else’s,” build one affordable home and nationalize singer Adele, celebrated his best-ever result. It was a massive increase from the votes he received in a special election two months ago against now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham, in which he won 95 votes.

“So against Nigel Farage compared to Andy Burnham, I am 1,000 times more popular,” he quipped. "Does that have anything to do with why he isn’t here tonight?”

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the election was no victory for Farage and he needs to come clean over his finances and relationship with a convicted fraudster.

“The mountain of sleaze and scandal he and Reform are now engulfed in has grown and grown while he’s been trying to distract the public by fighting a by-election against a bin,” Phillipson said. “Farage’s distraction by-election doesn’t clear his name — it just shows he likely has so much more to hide.”

Parliament’s standards watchdog is investigating an undeclared donation to Farage in 2024 from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire. Farage says he didn’t need to declare the money because it was a personal gift he used to fund his security and was made before he was elected.

However, newly elected lawmakers must declare gifts worth more than 300 pounds ($400) received in the previous year if they are related to political activities.

When he resigned on July 7, he described the scrutiny as an “establishment hit job” and a media-driven “witch-hunt.”

Farage also faces an investigation into his financial relationship with George Cottrell, an aristocratic crypto-gambling entrepreneur who served eight months in a U.S. prison for fraud a decade ago after offering to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug traffickers.

Cottrell, 32, remains close to Farage and has reportedly given him money for security and staff.

Farage, who was a major player in getting Britain to vote to leave the European Union a decade ago, has had strong polling nationally though his numbers have slipped during months of scrutiny of his finances.

Farage’s gambit to resign and run again backfired when other parties refused to participate and he was left facing a massive field of independent and small-party candidates, including novelty acts such as Howling Laud Hope of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and Marcus White from the Everyone is God Party.

Binface, who was already a running joke in British elections, drew the most attention because of his satirical spin on politics and persona as a space alien from the planet Sigma IX.

By winning at least 5% of the vote, he's earned a refund of the deposit of 500 pounds ($675) candidates pay to run.

Under the black cape, trash can helmet and ample body armor straight out of a low-budget sci-fi film, Binface’s alter-ego is Jon Harvey, a middle-aged comedian who has spent much of the campaign trying to keep his cool during a sweltering summer.

He said his repeated candidacies were aimed at promoting the beauty of Britain’s centuries-old democracy where even the most high-profile politicians are above no one — including someone from outer space.

Candidate Count Binface poses for the media during the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Ballot papers sorted for Farage and Binface are collected in boxes during the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Ballot papers sorted for Farage and Binface are collected in boxes during the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Count Binface, center, stands among other candidates during the result announcement after the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Count Binface, center, stands among other candidates during the result announcement after the Clacton by-election count at the Leisure Centre in Clacton on Sea, England, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Britain's Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage arrives at a polling station in Walton on the Naze, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026 to cast his vote for the Clacton on Sea by-election.(AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Edwin Diaz is out of explanations and manager Dave Roberts is almost out of patience after the latest untimely meltdown by the Los Angeles Dodgers' problematic bullpen.

The Dodgers took a two-run lead into the ninth inning Thursday night with Diaz, the highest-paid closer in baseball, on the mound. The defending champions left one inning later with a 5-4 loss to the NL-leading Milwaukee Brewers, who wreaked havoc on Los Angeles’ already beleaguered relief corps with a clutch three-run, five-hit rally.

Diaz (2-2) blew a save for the third time in his last four appearances for the Dodgers, giving up four consecutive one-out singles and three runs.

The normally imperturbable Roberts was clearly annoyed after this brutal loss in a game that would have pulled the Dodgers even with the Brewers atop the National League standings. Instead, Los Angeles has lost nine of 13.

When Roberts was asked whether Diaz would be allowed to continue to work through his struggles as the closer, Roberts snapped: “Give me another option.”

“I can’t just say, ‘Change (Diaz) to low leverage,'” Roberts added. “I have to have other options, and to be quite honest, none of those guys really have thrown the baseball great. That’s just kind of the way it is.”

That’s the dilemma facing Roberts, whose bullpen doesn’t currently contain a reliever he completely trusts. While the Dodgers’ overall bullpen statistics aren’t glaringly bad, Diaz’s struggles and a series of poor performances in recent high-leverage situations have clearly taxed Roberts’ problem-solving ability.

“You look back at the last week, and guys have struggled,” Roberts said. “I’m not going to sit here and play carousel and chase my tail ... when a guy is struggling, and then when he doesn’t pitch well, then it’s, ‘Why are you pitching him?’ I don’t do that. Everyone has got a role. They all have jobs to do, and they all have to do their job. That’s it.”

The trumpets that herald Diaz’s entrance into games have sounded more like a dirge lately while his ERA ballooned to 11.57. The three-time All-Star and longtime Mets closer has been frequently awful since returning late last month from a three-month absence for elbow surgery, giving up eight runs and 12 hits in only seven appearances.

“It’s frustrating, because I know my ability,” Diaz said. “I know what I can do on the mound. To not be able to do it (stinks). I've just got to come tomorrow and try to keep getting better.”

Diaz realizes he could be in danger of losing his job as the Dodgers' closer.

“I've just got to see what they want to do,” he said. “I want to do the best thing for the team. At the end of the day, if they give me the ball in the ninth, I will try to do my job. If they give me the ball in another inning, I will try to do my job. Got to get better, be consistent.”

Despite Roberts’ protestations, the clearest option to replace Diaz is left-hander Tanner Scott, who earned 16 saves this season before Diaz returned. But Scott’s miserable 2025 season is still top of many minds in Los Angeles, and his 2026 performance has mildly declined in recent weeks.

Roberts realizes he could consider a closer-by-committee plan, but that’s also difficult when any choice will be concerning.

“We’ve got to get other guys on track to even have that be even a valid conversation, to be honest with you,” Roberts said.

The bullpen’s struggles are magnified because the Dodgers’ talent-laden lineup hasn’t blown out anyone in weeks. Los Angeles has won just two games by more than two runs since July 19, repeatedly putting its relievers into perilous situations.

The Dodgers are trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series, and their fans still remember their team barely scraping through last season with a patchwork bullpen that finished 21st in the majors in ERA. In the postseason, LA improbably converted rookie starter Roki Sasaki into a closer.

Diaz was supposed to be the foundation of a return to a strong bullpen for the Dodgers, who hadn’t had a standout closer for years. Instead, he’s the central figure in another mess in mid-August.

Roberts is frustrated, but he’s also got perspective.

“I know people don’t want to hear it, but it’s baseball,” Roberts said. “Offenses go in lulls, and the bullpens go in lulls, and sometimes you get in a run where the starting pitching isn’t there. It is what happens, and it just doesn’t feel good. And it certainly is more highlighted when the ’pen doesn’t throw the baseball well, because it costs you games.”

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio, right, scores on a single by Jake Bauers as Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt watches during the ninth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Edwin Díaz walks off the field after being taken out of the game during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)