reclaim

The Reform UK leader received 22,239 votes in the Clacton by-election, compared with 9,455 for Binface.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has regained his parliamentary seat, besting his main challenger Count Binface in a by-election he triggered by resigning his post last month.

Farage received 22,239 votes in the Clacton by-election compared with 9,455 for serial joke candidate Binface, who wears a rubbish can on his head and calls himself an “intergalactic space warrior”. The United Kingdom’s main political parties boycotted the election, creating the embarrassing face-off for Farage who had sought to use the election to boost his standing after allegations of financial impropriety.

Farage did not attend the official vote count early Friday and cancelled a planned victory speech, the BBC reported.

In earlier remarks as votes rolled in, Farage claimed a “convincing, overwhelming win”.

“I called this by-election because I wanted the people of Clacton, the voters of this constituency to be my judge, not the mainstream media in Britain,” he said, adding that Clacton voters had “stuck two fingers up to the entire political establishment”.

Binface, whose campaign promises included putting a cap on croissant prices and moving the restroom hand dryer of a local pub, told Al Jazeera “there’s more than one way to win.”

Listing former British premiers he has challenged in previous elections, he said: “You guys are fixated on winning numerically, but … where’s Theresa May, where’s Rishi Sunak, where’s Boris Johnson?”

The 9,455 votes in Clacton for Binface, who has run in six elections since 2019, were his best-ever electoral result.

Voter turnout in Thursday’s election was 44 percent, lower than the 59 percent turnout recorded at the 2024 general election, but not unusual for a by-election.

Farage and Binface both topped a long list of joke candidates, independents and members of fringe political parties.

Candidates on stage at the Clacton Leisure Centre, where the count was held, were seen cheering for each other as the results were announced, with many receiving fewer than 100 votes.

Many view Farage, a right-wing populist who was a vocal campaigner for Brexit, as a prospective candidate for prime minister. He has pledged to crack down on migration, including using the British navy to intercept and return asylum seekers arriving by boat.

Farage quit his seat in parliament in July during an investigation into whether he failed to report a 5 million pound ($6.75m) gift from a crypto billionaire overseas, triggering the by-election he took part in.

“I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all,” said Farage of the allegations at the time.

Callum Simpson reclaimed the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles after earning a unanimous decision in his rematch with Troy Williamson.

The impressive Simpson avenged the only loss of his career, when Williamson upset the odds to stop him in the 10th round in December.

The English pair put on another thrilling contest in Leeds which the judges scored 116-112, 117-112 and 115-113 in Simpson’s favour.

The 29-year-old, fighting under new trainer Rob McCracken, rocked Williamson with a big right hand in the third round.

But Williamson, 34, hung in and stung the challenger in the eighth round. Then, knowing he needed a knockout, he took the fight to Simpson in the final round.

However, that late rally was not enough to stop Yorkshire’s Simpson improving his professional record to 19 wins and one loss.

“It feels amazing,” said Simpson. “I really didn’t want it to be that exciting, but Troy is a tough fighter. He won the last fight so he [had] every right to be confident.

“What everyone doesn’t know is that, in the last fight, I perforated both my eardrums in the first round. I was an absolute mess so that fight for me was just trying to survive.

“But I didn’t make any excuses. I’ve come back better, learned from it and I knew I was going to get the win tonight.”

Simpson’s promoter Ben Shalom said the fight was “unbelievable” and praised Williamson, now 22-5 with one draw, as he “kept coming”.

But Shalom feels Simpson is back in world-title contention and hopes to secure him a shot in the next 12 months.

“In boxing, people are so quick to write someone off,” he added. “The amount of people that told me ‘do not take that rematch’.

“We took it, [Simpson] did it and I’m so happy for him.”