Count Binface

In 2017, Harvey stood as the novelty candidate Lord Buckethead against Theresa May in Maidenhead in the 2017 general election, drawing media attention.^[6] Buckethead was created by the American filmmaker Todd Durham for his 1984 film Hyperspace, a low-budget parody of science fiction films such as Star Wars.^[7] Following the 2017 election, Durham contacted Harvey and asserted his ownership of Lord Buckethead.^[6] In response, Harvey introduced a new character, Count Binface, and stood in the general election in December 2019.^[8]

Count Binface is an "independent space warrior"^[9] in a black and grey uniform, with a long silver cape and a helmet shaped somewhat like a dustbin with a glowing strip where his eyes would be. He describes himself as the leader of the Recyclons from the planet Sigma IX,^[10] and claims to be over 5,900 years old.^[11] In 2026, Binface appeared in episode two of series four of the British television show Industry, entitled "The Commander and the Grey Lady".^[12]

Binface announced a series of satirical policies for the 2019 general election, including:

• Bringing back Ceefax, the teletext service.^[9] He had previously promised to bring back the service in 2017 as Lord Buckethead.^[13]
• Returning 20,001 police officers to the street, a reference to the Conservative pledge of 20,000 more police officers.^[14]
• Nationalising model railways.^[15]
• Holding a referendum on holding a second referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the European Union.^[15]
• Allowing any Czechs on the Irish border to remain,^[15] a reference to the Brexit and the Irish border controversy.
• Nationalising Adele.^[16]
• Abolishing the House of Lords.^[16] He had previously pledged the same in 2017 as Lord Buckethead.^[17]
• Giving free broadband to everyone.^[16]
• Stopping the sale of arms to repressive regimes.^[16]
• Making Piers Morgan zero emissions by 2030.^[16]
• Renaming London Bridge to "Phoebe Waller-Bridge".^[16]
• Introducing a minimum voting age of 16 and a maximum of 80.^[16]
• Sending £1 trillion a week to the NHS.^[15]
• Proroguing Jacob Rees-Mogg.^[15]
• Banishing Katie Hopkins to the Phantom Zone.^[15]
• Moving the hand dryer in the men's toilet at Uxbridge's Crown and Treaty pub to a "more sensible position".^[15]

In 2019, another individual contested the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat as Lord Buckethead, representing the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, to which Binface said he "look[s] forward to both the hustings and to challenging [him] to take part in a receptacle-to-receptacle debate".^[18]

Binface announced his intention to stand for the London Mayoral Election, which was originally scheduled for 2020, but was delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He announced a suite of 21 policies which "marries fiscal responsibility, social awareness, and not being an anti-vaccine nutjob", including:

• Finish Crossrail.^[19]
• Free parking for electric vehicles between Vine Street and the Strand,^[19] in reference to where the Free Parking space is located on the British Monopoly game board.
• London to join the European Union.^[19]
• Renaming London Bridge to "Phoebe Waller-Bridge" and Hammersmith Bridge to "Wayne Bridge".^[19]
• All government ministers' pay, including that of the mayors, should be tied to that of nurses for the next 100 years.^[20]
• Loud snacks to be banned from theatres.^[21]
• The use of the speakerphone function on mobile phones to be banned in public. Any offenders caught will be forced to watch the film version of Cats every day for a year.^[22]

Binface started a fundraiser to raise £10,000, the amount necessary to allow him to stand for Mayor of London. The excess money was donated to the charity Shelter to help combat homelessness.^[19] He finished ninth with 24,775 votes in the mayoral election.^[23]

In March 2024, Binface started another fundraiser to allow him to stand in the next London mayoral election, which was held on 2 May 2024. Any funds raised in excess of the necessary £10,000 would again be donated to charity.^[24] After gaining the required amount, he announced his entry into the race^[3] and released his manifesto,^[25] which re-used many policies from previous years but added a few new ones.

The Binface manifesto called for the abolition of VAR^[26] (presumably in football matches) and promised to force Thames Water managers to "take a dip in the Thames... see how they like it", in reference to the recent sewage discharge controversy; also to "build at least one affordable house", referring to the housing crisis in London.^[27]

He finished in 11th place with 24,260 votes — notably, ahead of Britain First, despite the election's change to a First Past the Post voting system.^[28] Incumbent mayor and election winner Sadiq Khan in a victory speech remarked about celebrating "becoming the first person in British political history to win successive victories over Count Binface".^[29] He added that Binface finishing ahead of the far-right Britain First candidate was "another reason to love London".^[30]

On 7 June 2024, Binface announced his intention to stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election, contesting the Richmond and Northallerton constituency against the then prime minister, Rishi Sunak. Binface said that he was "taking on the biggest fish of the lot" in the election and commented; "You shirked D-Day Rishi, you can't miss the B-Day", a reference to the controversy caused by Sunak's early departure from the ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.^[31] Amongst new policies announced in Binface's manifesto was a "space bridge" to solve the traffic problems caused by Northallerton's level crossings and reducing the price of 99 Flake ice creams to 99 pence.^[32] He also proposed National Service for former prime ministers and inviting European nations to join the United Kingdom.^[33]

Binface enlisted the mathematician and YouTuber Matt Parker to create charts for his free election pamphlet and to act as an election observer on behalf of the Count Binface Party.^[34] The Daily Star endorsed Binface, as well as the Labour Party.^[35]

Binface finished sixth of thirteen candidates with 308 votes, representing 0.6% of all the votes cast.^[36] He commented on Twitter that it was his best placing and highest ever vote count in a national election and declared that "Bindependence Day has come".^[33]

For the 2026 Makerfield by-election, Binface stated in his manifesto that he would build at least one affordable house, cap the price of a 99 Flake at 99p, and that of a "Wigan kebab" (a butter pie in a barm cake) at £2.^[37] He also said; "I believe elected mayors should serve out their terms before they're eligible to stand for parliament", a criticism of Andy Burnham who won the by-election while still serving as Mayor of Greater Manchester.^[38]

Binface won 95 votes, or 0.2% of the vote, placing 7th out of 14 candidates. He was 68 votes behind the Liberal Democrat candidate.^[39]

• Binface, Count (2022). What On Earth?: An alien's guide to fixing Britain. London: Quercus Editions Ltd. ISBN 978-1529421651.

• Darth Vader in Ukrainian politics
• Monster Raving Loony Party
• List of novelty human election candidates