Binface, foxes and raving loonies: the UK’s proud history of costumed candidates

When world leaders are elected, it is usually a solemn moment, but when the Labour party veteran Andy Burnham found out he had won the Makerfield byelection, increasing the likelihood he could become the next prime minister, he was standing next to a man with a bin on his head.

The newest Labour MP was also flanked by a man in a fox costume. Robert Pownall, the founder of the campaign group Protect the Wild, decided to run as a fox in order to demand an end to trail hunting.

These odd scenes are common during election result announcements in Britain, where, unlike in many other countries that use electronic voting, paper ballots are counted by hand in unglamorous locations such as school assembly halls and leisure centres.

The joke candidate is a staple of British elections. The Monster Raving Loony party often stands in seats that are expected to have results televised, such as constituencies of prime ministers and cabinet members. Its candidates wear strange outfits including comically large rosettes and declare they support odd policies including replacing Border Force employees with doctors’ receptionists to dramatically reduce the number of people getting through (a reference to the frequently lamented difficulty of getting an appointment with a primary care doctor), and marking all deep potholes with a rubber duck.

Count Binface is also a regular at election counts, sending up momentous political occasions by wearing a bizarre costume including a bin-shaped helmet.

The man in the bin is a comedian named Jon Harvey. He used to stand in elections as Lord Buckethead, including in the former prime minister Theresa May’s constituency in 2017 so that she had to face down the dreadful results for her party alongside a man with a bucket on his head. However, after receiving a copyright complaint from the American film-maker Todd Durham, who created Lord Buckethead for his 1984 science-fiction film Hyperspace, Harvey had to rebrand as Count Binface.

Speaking to the Guardian before the results were announced, Count Binface, who has also stood against the former prime ministers Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, said: “If I don’t make that final step on to the green benches, I would be sad for now.”

He said he was making a serious political point by standing against Burnham, who will now vacate his role as Greater Manchester mayor. “Elected mayors should finish the term that they promised the voters before they are eligible to stand for parliament,” he said.

However, he did give some lukewarm praise for Makerfield’s new MP. “Maybe, just maybe, the soft left is the way forward, I am sure Guardian readers would agree.”

Unfortunately for the bin-hatted candidate, with just 95 votes, he will have lost the £500 deposit all candidates are required to pay before standing in an election.

The veteran Sky News presenter Jon Craig had an entertaining exchange with Binface before the Makerfield count, when the novelty candidate crashed his live broadcast and demanded to be interviewed.

Craig, with a resigned air, asked: “Who are you?” The novelty candidate replied, with his voice muffled from inside the bin: “What kind of journalist is this that you don’t know? I’m not Andy Burnham.”

Binface then reeled off a list of policies including capping the price of Wigan kebabs at £2 and making rule-breaking cyclists ride a unicycle as punishment for not following the highway code.

The British tendency to use silly jokes to gently make fun of politicians gained worldwide notoriety in 2022 when the Daily Star newspaper set up a live stream of a lettuce placed next to a picture of the then prime minister, Liz Truss, to illustrate that her term in office would not outlast a piece of fresh produce.

The newspaper was correct and Truss has been taunted with the nickname “lettuce Liz” ever since.