Odds on Count Binface winning Clacton by-election slashed by bookies

The interstellar campaigner has emerged as the main challenger after Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems all declined to stand.

With Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens all refusing to field candidates against Nigel Farage, the intergalactic anti-corruption campaigner in a bin-shaped helmet suddenly finds himself as the most credible opposition on the ballot paper.

The market has reacted accordingly.

What began as novelty pricing for Britain’s best-known satirical candidate has quickly turned into something approaching a serious punt, with bookmakers slashing Binface’s odds as punters pile into the only non-Reform name with a realistic chance of causing an embarrassment.

Read more: The man behind the bin - who is Count Binface?

Social media, meanwhile, has fully embraced the moment. Calls to “Vote Binface” have spread rapidly online as voters discover that, in a field conspicuously lacking in actual opposition parties, the Count is now effectively leading the resistance.

They now appear to have two options.

One is Nigel Farage.

The other is a 5,900-year-old space warrior from the planet Sigma IX whose flagship policies include renationalising hand dryers and making croissants legally required to contain butter.