Sheffield council leader pays Facebook tribute to Count Binface with joke name change
The leader of Sheffield City Council, Fran Belbin, has changed her Facebook profile name to Fran BelBinface for a day as part of a family joke.
The Firth Park Labour councillor has made the change on the day that voters in Clacton, Essex go to the polls in a by-election where Count Binface is the favourite candidate to unseat Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Mr Farage caused the by-election when he resigned from his seat last month amid growing questions over an alleged gift of £5 million from a wealthy donor – then immediately said he would stand for election again.
All the mainstream parties stood aside from the election, so that Mr Farage would return to Parliament and face an official investigation.
That left the satirical character as the main challenger to Mr Farage in an election against 33 candidates such as Nick the Flying Brick from The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and independent Woke Trump Carrzee, alongside minor party contenders.
Result
A family Facebook discussion showed that Coun Belbin’s brother Richard came up with the idea and persuaded his sister to follow suit. He joked that they will change their names by deed poll if the Count wins.
Polls close in Clacton at 10pm tonight (July 13). The result is expected at 5am at the earliest because of the number of candidates.
Full list of candidates: Joseph 77 (Independent); Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party); Count Binface (Count Binface Party); Nick the Incredible Flying Brick (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party); Tony Cane (Independent); Woke Trump Carrzee (Independent); William Stuart James Clouston (Social Democratic Party); Rees Cowne (Independent); Glenn Charles Cummings (Independent); Martin Davies (Freedom Alliance); Andy Erlam (Independent); Nigel Farage (Reform UK); Attieh Fard (Independent); Laurence Fox (The Reclaim Party); Tony Francis (Independent); Robin Green (Independent); Abi Hookway (Independent); Howling Laud Hope (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party); Stephen Richard Ingram (Independent); Amy Morris (Independent); Derrick Norbert Morris (Independent); Michael Noel O’Keeffe (Independent); Martyn Obrien (Independent); Nick Pelas (Independent); Ketankumar Pipaliya (UK Voice); Daniel Pocock (Independent); James Ransley (Consensus); Gerry Smith (Independent); Kai Stephens (British Democratic Party); John Stevens (Rejoin EU); Baron Von Thunderclap (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party); Pamela Walford (Independent); Marcus White (Everyone is God Party); Marc Wilkinson (Independent).