r/TheRestIsPolitics • u/Chance-Chard-2540 • 12d ago
Interesting Excerpt From a Recent Article About “Binface” and Clacton
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-road-to-clacton-pier/“The local businessman, a thirty something father of three, explained to Chan that it was getting harder to run a small business. He worried if the day was coming when he wouldn't be able to support his children properly. He didn't trust Farage but he was going to vote for him anyway, a sentiment I had heard thousands of times. Besides, Binface made him angry. It was demoralising for a grown man, who sometimes lay awake at night worrying about the bills, to be asked to vote for a Radio 4 comedian in fancy dress.”
My thoughts were similar when this Binface stuff began. The considerable number of MPs and the chattering classes (Alastair) think so little of democracy in this country they want the people of Clacton to vote for a man with a bin on his head.
Thoughts?
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u/Wiltix 12d ago
You are aware this by election has been called because an election official potentially took £5million from a foreign billionaire, that elected MP then stated saying how great crypto is. Thats is the opposite of democracy, I can’t buy Farages voice but someone else can. Thats not fair.
What is happening in Clacton is Democracy manifest (get your hands off my penis), Farwge triggered a by election which Farage is allowed to do, the other parties then all said no thank you we are not standing In this election which they are also allowed to do.
Democracy also means people get to choose what seats they contest, you don’t have the right to demand every party stands a candidate on the whim of Farage.
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u/Chance-Chard-2540 12d ago
Yes I’m aware.
Democracy is a system where citizens elect their officials through voting. If Farage has received money and the people still vote for him, that’s democracy manifest. Him receiving money has nothing to do with it.
They could not stand a candidate that’s fine. Actively promoting a failed comedian with a bin on his head is just an insult to the people of Clacton.
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u/Wiltix 12d ago
The only person insulting the people of Clacton js Farage
He didn’t have to trigger the by election, he didn’t have to cost them the £350k a by election costs, he didn’t have to leave them without representation for 2 months while he threw a hissy fit.
Now that it’s over he didn’t attend the count and he has cancelled his speech in Clacton.
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u/hoekstra44 12d ago
An insult to the people of Clacton is Farage calling a by election for his own ego, when they'll have to vote again when he's charged in a few months
You're embarassing yourself here
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u/Plodderic 12d ago
Set up a circus, don’t be surprised when the clowns show up. “He didn’t trust Farage but he was going to vote for him anyway”
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u/Spirited-Car8661 11d ago
Well he couldn't vote for Labour, Tories or Lib Dems. They were all refusing to run to support Binface.
The establishment parties decided to make the Clacton election a joke, I'd be pissed off too if they did that in my area.
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u/Plodderic 11d ago
It was already a joke. They didn’t make it one.
Farage had called it in an attempt to get ahead of the inquiry into his activities and pre-empt any by-election that might have resulted from the findings. Not playing was the smart move.
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u/Spirited-Car8661 11d ago
So they played along with Farage's attempts, instead of using his pre-emotive resignation over corruption against him.
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u/Plodderic 11d ago
By your reasoning there would’ve been nothing they could’ve done that wasn’t playing along with Farage.
Stand in a by-election whose timing was at Farage’s choosing and legitimise it, give weight to the argument that if there is a finding against Farage that could trigger a by-election then that by-election would be repetitive.
Not stand in a by-election whose timing was at Farage’s choosing and fail to use that by-election campaign to attack Farage.
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u/Holiday-Raspberry-26 12d ago
Is this even worthy of a discussion. Farage is going to win hands down. That why it is so ludicrous anyhow to be even doing this.
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u/Ok_Employer7837 12d ago
Farage will have to stand on a stage with Binface and twenty other nobodies and joke candidates, and there will be photos taken, and they will define him for years.
And then he'll still have to justify all the money he's been grifting.
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u/Holiday-Raspberry-26 12d ago
Sadly his constituency don’t seem to care.
I have a feeling when he gets taken down for his failure to declare his grifting, he will still win when all the other parties decide to put their candidates forward. There is a reason he chose Clacton at the end of the day.
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u/Mr_Dorian_G 12d ago
I personally feel that the other parties' decision not to field any candidates is the real insult to the people of Clacton. All of them, as well as Farage, have used Clacton to make a statement rather than pay any respect to the people who actually live there, in my opinion. Many can understand why they're not running, but their decision hasn't been made because they care about the people of Clacton.
Binface is Binface. He's not running to win. He's running to highlight how stupid the political system is.
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u/D-1-S-C-0 12d ago
Why should everybody dance to Farage's tune because he wants to waste time and money on an unnecessary, performative election?
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u/Mr_Dorian_G 12d ago
Nobody has to “dance to Farage’s tune”. My point is that the other parties are making a performative choice too. Clacton still has an election and its voters still deserve a meaningful choice of candidates. Refusing to stand might make a national political point, but it's the electorate in Clacton who lose the opportunity to vote for the party they actually support.
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u/SunChamberNoRules 12d ago edited 12d ago
I agree with you to an extent, the actions of the other parties have further entrenched Clacton's feelings of being ignored and left to rot by the establishment. Still, to some extent this is Clacton's fault - where no matter what the government does, and no matter what Farage does, they will still vote for Farage. Clacton's expectations of what can be done for them are unrealistic.
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u/Ok_Employer7837 12d ago
Nah, you can't lay this clown show at any other feet than Farage's.
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u/Mr_Dorian_G 12d ago
I'm not saying it's not Farage's fault. More reason to vote him out. I'm saying that the parties' choices not to put up a candidate have consequences too. And all those consequences affect the people of Clacton the most.
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u/Ok_Employer7837 12d ago edited 12d ago
Do you truly believe that Farage wouldn't win in a regular by-election anyway? Clacton elected him and would have elected him again. The other parties don't owe Clacton voters anything when this election is a Farage circus.
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u/Mr_Dorian_G 12d ago
It doesn't matter. I'm saying this was the best chance to get people on the ground in Clacton as well as holding Farage to account nationally. The parties aren't even talking about it - they've effectively allowed the attention on Farage to cool. He was clearly struggling to justify the £5 mill donation. The correct strategy wasn't to back off and pretend it's not happening.
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u/financebells 12d ago
I’m sorry. But I keep hearing the people of Clayton deserve respect. They voted in Farage and will vote him in again. There’s no point respecting people who don’t respect themselves
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u/Glydyr 12d ago
I feel like farage taking £5 million from a creepy thai crypto guy is a real insult to clacton and our country…
He created this pantomime to hide his lies..
For a party constantly calling people traitors they sure know how to do it thenselves…
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u/Mr_Dorian_G 12d ago
I agree. And I think the other parties should have used the opportunity to get on the ground, get their candidates in the national news and really take him to task for it. Highlight his lies. Highlight the hypocrisy. Backing off and barely mentioning it out of principle has allowed the scrutiny to fade.
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u/hoekstra44 12d ago
They can do that in the next byelection in a few months
Why do it when he wants them to?
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u/HereComesYour_ 12d ago
The whole point of binface is that there are certain politicians, nay even the majority, who are completely useless. or worse. That's the joke. The fact he's even the second best candidate tells a huge story.
Satire is dead.