Nigel Farage, the Member of Parliament for Clacton and leader of Reform UK, has resigned, triggering a by-election in the constituency. This follows weeks of speculation regarding an undeclared £5 million gift Farage received before he became an MP, as well as other gifts he allegedly should have declared. Farage intends to stand in the by-election, which he has dubbed a ‘people vs. the establishment’ fight, and let the people of Clacton decide whether he should remain their representative.
He will almost certainly be re-elected. He won with 46.2% of the vote in 2024, and his party’s popularity has skyrocketed since. However, all the main political parties have decided not to field candidates. At the moment, Farage’s main challenger is Count Binface, an ‘independent space warrior’. This novelty candidate, known for his rubbish-bin-shaped helmet and ridiculous campaign promises, is played by BBC comedy writer Jonathan David Harvey.
The world is not saved by politicians. It is improved by ordinary people who wake up every day and make something better than it was yesterday
It must be said that, while the likelihood that Farage wins in Clacton is high, his personal popularity there does not tell us anything about whether or not he broke the rules. That is a matter for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, whose investigation will continue. Parliament’s code of conduct is quite clear. MPs must declare any benefit that ‘might reasonably be thought by others to influence [their] actions or words.’ Any gifts received in the 12 months preceding their election must be declared. While ‘purely personal’ gifts are exempt, the code states that ‘if there is any doubt, the benefit should be registered’. Farage denies any wrongdoing, and a decision is due in September.
In the meantime, Farage will face Count Binface. In an attempt to regain control of the narrative regarding his finances, Farage is entering a circus.
From a distance, it all makes Britain look utterly unserious. While economic growth is practically non-existent, one in four working-age people don’t work, and with the government making countless attempts to erode our civil liberties, the person whom many on the Right have touted as ‘our only hope’ is competing with a satirical bin.
It is an extraordinarily depressing state of affairs, and makes one wonder whether our beautiful country will be consigned to misery and decay for the foreseeable future. Some may think it is time to give up hope altogether.
Not me. I have been a self-described libertarian for most of my adult life, and being a part of that club comes with a profound distrust of politics. Specifically, I do not believe elections are the vehicle to improving our lives.
In 1936, an essay by HL Mencken called ‘Sham Battle’ was published in the Baltimore Evening Sun. In it, Mencken offered an uncompromisingly harsh assessment of the electoral process: ‘The state – or, to make the matter more concrete, the government – consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can’t get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.’
My optimism does not stem from any hope about the results of a particular election. On the contrary, my optimism and excitement and belief that the world will continue to become a better and better place stems from everything that happens outside of politics.
Human beings are awesome. People invent and create incredible things that mean humans continue to progress. We are, as humans, creating robots and rockets and spaceships and life-saving vaccines.
Elon Musk’s Starlink has created satellite technology that enables the most remote corners of the planet to connect to the world. During the anti-government protests in Iran, Starlink (for free) enabled users in Iran to communicate with the world while the government attempted to black out the internet. As the Iranian regime brutally killed thousands of people, activists could tell the world what was happening.
Zipline has created autonomous drones that deliver blood, vaccines, and medical supplies to remote communities that would otherwise be cut off from urgent care. Meta has created AI glasses that enable blind people to read documents, describe environments and interact with the world in a way that we did not think was possible simply by saying: ‘Hey Meta, be my eyes.’
That is where real hope lies. Not in the latest political saviour of the Right, not in the reshuffling of parliamentary seats, not in the theatrical promise that one more election will finally deliver national renewal. Politics is usually a lagging indicator of progress, not its cause. It is slow, coercive, theatrical and endlessly self-important. Human beings outside politics are the opposite: restless, inventive, experimental and astonishingly good at solving problems, especially when they are left free to try.
This is not to say that politics does not matter. Bad governments make people poorer, less free and less safe. They suffocate enterprise, criminalise harmless behaviour and trap entire countries in decline. Britain is living through enough of that already. But governments are not the whole story. They are not even the most important story. The most important story is what people build, discover, trade, create and share despite the government.
So yes, the Farage-Binface by-election is absurd. It is embarrassing. It is a perfect little symbol of a country whose political class appears unserious even as the problems facing ordinary people become more serious by the day. But it should not make us despair. The world is not saved by politicians. It is improved by builders, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, parents, volunteers and ordinary people who wake up every day and make something better than it was yesterday.
That is why I cannot give up hope. I have very little faith in Westminster, and even less faith in political messiahs. But I have immense faith in people.
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