Count Binface

Jonathan David Harvey is a British writer who contests elections as the novelty candidate Count Binface, an "independent space warrior" who wears a bin-shaped helmet. Harvey previously stood as a similar character, Lord Buckethead, but was forced to build a new one due to a dispute with the filmmaker Todd Durham, who owns the Buckethead character.

Overview§

Jonathan David Harvey (born May 1980) is a British writer who contests elections as the novelty candidate Count Binface, an "independent space warrior" who wears a bin-shaped helmet. Harvey previously stood as a similar character, Lord Buckethead, but was forced to build a new one due to a dispute with the filmmaker Todd Durham, who owns the Buckethead character. Binface stood against the prime minister, Boris Johnson, in Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the 2019 general election, and the 2023 by-election which followed Johnson’s resignation as a member of Parliament. He contested the 2021 and 2024 London mayoral elections, and stood against the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in Richmond and Northallerton at the 2024 general election. Binface stood at the 2026 Makerfield by-election, which was won by Andy Burnham, the current prime minister. Binface is the primary contender against the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at the forthcoming 2026 Clacton by-election amidst a boycott by the other leading parties. Harvey has used Binface to promote electoral participation, with the slogan "Make Your Vote Count". He originally stood as an independent, but his affiliation since 2023 has since been to the Count Binface Party.

Background§

Jonathan David Harvey was born in Croydon, London, in May 1980. His father, an estate agent, was an alcoholic. Harvey lived in 11 houses in his first 11 years, making his childhood chaotic. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in literae humaniores, and has worked as a scriptwriter for the satirical television programmes The Thick of It, Have I Got News for You and Time Trumpet.

Lord Buckethead§

Harvey stood against the prime minister, Theresa May, in her Maidenhead constituency at the 2017 general election. His character, Lord Buckethead, dressed in a black cloak over a spacesuit-style costume, with a tall, cylindrical black helmet with a thin visor, originated in the 1984 film Hyperspace, a low-budget Star Wars parody directed by Todd Durham. Harvey was inspired to adopt the persona after watching Hyperspace and realising that the character had contested the 1987 and 1992 general elections. Durham contacted Harvey and asserted his ownership of the Buckethead character after the 2017 election. Harvey turned over the Buckethead social media account to Durham, who then hired the film journalist David Hughes to take over the portrayal of the character. Harvey introduced a new character, Count Binface, and stood against the prime minister, Boris Johnson, in Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the 2019 general election in response. Hughes and Harvey went for drinks afterwards, after which Hughes used the Buckethead Twitter account to announce that he was an "imposter" and to endorse Binface as "the true heir to the Buckethead throne". Harvey refuses interviews and defers to his alter-ego when making public appearances. According to Hughes, Harvey "does actually genuinely believe that the absurdist element of British elections is kind of a cool one". Harvey himself proclaimed to the BBC that "My job is to celebrate and defend the wonders of British democracy".

Other ventures§

Binface has made many appearances other than as a political candidate, at debates and open fora: he was invited to participate in an Oxford Union debate in 2024, where he wrapped up a debate against the motion "This House Would Fake it Til You Make It", and was interviewed by the zoologist Jules Howard at the Cheltenham Literature Festival around apes and procreation, and by the comedian Richard Herring in July 2026 for his podcast in advance of the Clacton by-election. Several years prior, Jon Harvey made a rare appearance in 2020 at the Cambridge Union, where he closed for the opposition to the motion "This House would rather be a Spartan than an Athenian". He debated against Paul Cartledge, who moved; The historian Tom Holland closed for the proposition. Binface also performs comedy shows; his first national tour was in the autumn of 2024; His July 2026 show in London's Museum of Comedy, entitled "A (Moral) Victory Rally", sold out. In August 2026 a 72-page Count Binface comic book was released by British independent graphic novel publisher SelfMadeHero. With almost 40 artists, writers and cartoonists, contributors included Bryan Talbot, Dave McKean, and Steven Appleby. The publisher, which was considering a second print run, said pre-sale orders of the book "had gone through the roof".

Character§

Count Binface is an "intergalactic space warrior" in a black-and-grey uniform, with a long silver cape and a helmet shaped like a dustbin with a glowing strip in place of eyes. He describes himself as the leader of the Recyclons from the planet Sigma IX, and claims to be over 5,900 years old. Binface named his second-in-command as "General Waste". In an appearance on BBC Newsnight on 8 July 2026, when asked by the presenter Paddy O'Connell to remove his mask, Harvey said that "nobody wants to know" what is underneath a Recyclon's helmet, describing it as "absolutely putrefying". In 2026 he appeared in an episode of the television drama series Industry, as a candidate in a general election. His candidacy in the 2026 Clacton by-election, against Nigel Farage, gained global media attention.

2019 general election§

Binface stood on a "fully costed" platform, which included bringing back Ceefax, the teletext service; he had previously pledged this in 2017 as Lord Buckethead. Binface welcomed Buckethead, a rival contestant in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat representing the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, "to take part in a receptacle-to-receptacle debate". His other policy pledges included:

returning 20,001 police officers to the street – one more than the Conservative pledge to add 20,000 more police officers nationalising model railways holding a referendum on holding a second referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the European Union allowing any Czechs on the Irish border to remain, a reference to the Brexit and the Irish border controversy nationalising Adele abolishing the House of Lords; giving free broadband to everyone stopping the sale of arms to repressive regimes making Piers Morgan zero emissions by 2030 renaming London Bridge to "Phoebe Waller-Bridge" introducing a minimum voting age of 16 and a maximum of 80 sending £1 trillion a week to the NHS proroguing Jacob Rees-Mogg banishing Katie Hopkins to the Phantom Zone moving the hand dryer in the men's toilet at the Crown and Treaty pub, Uxbridge, to a more sensible position

2021 London mayoral election§

Binface announced his intention to stand for the London mayoral election, which was scheduled for 2020 but delayed to 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:

finishing Crossrail free parking for electric vehicles between Vine Street and the Strand, in reference to where the Free Parking space is located on the British Monopoly game board London to join the European Union renaming London Bridge to "Phoebe Waller-Bridge" and Hammersmith Bridge to "Wayne Bridge". tying all government ministers' pay, including that of the mayors, to that of nurses for the next 100 years banning loud snacks from theatres banning the use of the speakerphone function on mobile phones, with offenders forced to watch the 2019 film Cats every day for a year 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. He finished ninth with 24,775 votes in the mayoral election.

2024 London mayoral election§

In March 2024 Binface started another fundraiser to allow him to stand at the London mayoral election held on 2 May 2024, with funds in excess of the necessary £10,000 deposit to once again be donated to the housing charity, Shelter. After he announced his entry into the race and released his manifesto, he made a surprise appearance at Glastonbury 2024. The Binface manifesto re-used many policies from previous years but added a few new ones, including abolishing VAR; forcing Thames Water managers to "take a dip in the Thames... see how they like it", in reference to the sewage discharge controversy; building "at least one affordable house", referring to the housing crisis; and giving listed building status to Claudia Winkleman's fringe. Despite the election's change to a first-past-the-post voting system, Binface finished in 11th place with 24,260 votes – ahead of the far-right Britain First. Binface said in 2024 this result was an achievement of which he was the most proud. The incumbent mayor and winner, Sadiq Khan, in a victory speech remarked around celebrating "becoming the first person in British political history to win successive victories over Count Binface". He added that Binface finishing ahead of the Britain First candidate was "another reason to love London".

2024 general election§

On 7 June 2024 Binface announced he would be contesting the Richmond and Northallerton constituency against the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, saying that he was "taking on the biggest fish of the lot". He commented; "You shirked D-Day Rishi, you can't miss the B-Day", a reference to Sunak's early departure from the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings. New policies announced in Binface's manifesto include:

building a "space bridge" to solve the traffic problems caused by Northallerton's level crossings. reducing the price of 99 Flake ice creams to 99 pence National Service for former prime ministers Inviting European nations to join the UK Binface enlisted the YouTuber and mathematician Matt Parker to build charts for his free election pamphlet and to act as an election observer on behalf of the Count Binface Party. The Daily Star, along with the Labour Party, endorsed Binface. Binface finished sixth of thirteen candidates with 308 votes, representing 0.6% of all the votes cast. 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".

2026 Makerfield by-election§

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 misnomer but a barm cake – at £2. Binface urged tax reform: "Vote Count Binface to... cut your taxes and raise everyone else's", to ban automatic renewal of online subscriptions, and reiterated his pledge to nationalise Adele. 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. Binface's platform was criticised in an opinion piece by Daniel Hannan published in the Daily Telegraph. Hannan objected to price-capping of kebabs because it would lead to shortages, and the pledge to "cut your taxes and raise everyone else's", which he said explains "why Britain is in such a mess". Other commentators responded that Binface lampoons the failure of Britain's political system to provide convincing solutions, and state that satire and ridicule have become one of the few effective ways of challenging populist politics when conventional opposition fails. Binface won 95 votes, 68 votes behind the Liberal Democrat candidate, and seventh out of 14 candidates. In Prime Minister's Questions after the by-election, Keir Starmer congratulated Kemi Badenoch's Conservative Party for their 2.2% share of the vote in Makerfield, "just edging past Count Binface". Burnham posted a photo of himself shaking hands with Binface and captioned it: "Always worth knowing when bin day is." In a further post, he wrote: "Count Binface, you are carrying the hopes of the nation. Don't let us down."

2026 Clacton by-election§

On 7 July 2026, faced with parliamentary scrutiny of his personal finances and allegations concerning undeclared gifts and support, Nigel Farage announced his intention to resign as the MP for Clacton, triggering a by-election. The leading parties – Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens – along with Restore Britain, announced they would boycott the by-election. The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, and Green leader Zack Polanski criticised Farage's resignation as "political stunt", which Farage denied. Badenoch condemned the "fake" election as a distraction. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, whose role it was to accept his resignation, criticised Farage on social media, saying "the people of Clacton deserve better. But if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won't stop him."

Binface's candidacy§

Binface announced his candidacy for the by-election and said "I will be an unity candidate". He added that "Nigel Farage says he wants the people versus the establishment. So be it. Leave him to me." In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Binface said that his job was "to celebrate and defend the wonders of British democracy". Regarding the other leading parties dropping out of the race, he questioned whether they were "running scared from old Binny" or if they thought Farage was "running a cunning stunt". Saying that his main appeal would be the fact that he was not Farage, he confirmed that he had never been to Clacton, and would not be campaigning there as he had understood from the incumbent that staying away from the constituency was "part of how you do the job". His manifesto pledges are as always tailored to the local area, but emphasised that most of his national policies would remain. His manifesto for Clacton, launched on 27 July, included some perennial pledges, such as to build one affordable house, but he also targeted his opponent by promising to "spend more time in Clacton-on-Sea than in Washington DC"; to bar MPs who resign mid-parliament from the resulting by-election; to "not accept any £5m gifts from crypto billionaires (on Earth)". Seeking to represent the UK at Eurovision, he would bring the contest to Clacton in 2028 if he won. Anticipating the question of dress code in Parliament, Binface said: "If people vote Binface, they get Binface... I know there are parliamentary rules saying you can’t wear a costume. I’ll just have to change those rules." Binface gained a surge of support from activists after announcing his candidacy, raising more than £15,000 in donations in a day, which he described as akin to a "fever dream". He said he hoped to appeal to voters from all sides of the political spectrum and said he could even court the immigrant vote, given that he was "the ultimate alien". The leading Labour donor Dale Vince offered to fund Binface's campaign, adding: "I want Binface to win, and I am prepared to support him – morally, verbally and financially."

Parliamentary and political commentary§

Binface has since been pitted against Farage in media coverage, with The Independent reporting on 8 July that Binface had become the recipient of an anti-Farage tactical voting campaign. The Guardian likened the attempt to 1997 when the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates stood down for Martin Bell against the scandal-ridden incumbent Neil Hamilton. The New Statesman business editor Will Dunn called for an united front in support of Binface's candidacy. Dunn later clarified that he did not mean to endorse Binface, but the position Binface occupies in British politics. Warning around a potential "constitutional crisis" were Binface to be elected, David Wolfson, the Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales, said that parliamentary convention dictates that MPs "may not address the House wearing a hat". Dan Jarvis, then-Secretary of State for Defence, wished Binface good luck. While Badenoch said that Binface might be the people's candidate if the by-election was a "people versus the establishment" contest, Starmer said he could not endorse him due to Labour Party rules, when asked around Binface at the 2026 NATO summit. At Starmer's final appearance in Prime Minister's Questions, Badenoch asked whether he agreed that the country deserved a televised debate between Farage and Binface. Starmer replied by urging everyone to "put [their] vote in the Bin", which was interpreted by The Daily Telegraph as an endorsement.

Personal life§

Harvey is married to the actress Sarah Daykin. They have two children. Daykin is a drama graduate who previously performed as "Toby", a comedy duo with Lizzie, her younger sister by three years. Their son has the middle name Dan. He is named after Harvey's brother, who died in 2015 aged 43. A post-mortem revealed that he was an undiagnosed diabetic, and had died from a coma related to his condition. In his memoir, A Fan for All Seasons: A Journey Through Life (2023), he described how he coped with grief through sport. Harvey is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.