Who is Count Binface and what is his manifesto for London mayor?
Count Binface is practically a staple of London’s elections at this point.
The viral political star – formerly known as Lord Buckethead – first found fame for challenging PMs Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
Now the Count is running for the 2024 London mayoral election, running against 12 other candidates.
His hilarious manifesto includes pledges to ban shops from selling croissants for more than £1.10 and building ‘at least one’ affordable house.
So, who is he, and why is he no longer named Lord Buckethead? Here’s all you need to know.
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Who is Count Binface?
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Count Binface describes himself as ‘an intergalactic space warrior and leader of the Recyclons from planet Sigma IX’.
But the man behind the mask is actually Jon Harvey, a comedian and writer.
On Count Binface’s official website, Harvey writes that his alter-ego is an ‘intergalactic space warrior who stood against Theresa May in 2017 and went viral (in a non-Covid way)’.
He then went on to challenge PM Boris Johnson’s seat as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, which the PM has held since 2015.
After an unsuccessful bid, the Count threw his ‘metal’ hat (head?) in the ring for the 2021 London mayor election, where he received 24,775 votes.
Now he’s back and hoping to win the 2024 mayor election on May 2.
When asked for his opinion on one of his main rivals, Susan Hall of the Conservatives, he told the PA news agency: ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
In March, he released a music video on YouTube featuring his version of The Real Thing’s ‘You To Me Are Everything’.
In the upbeat electro song, the Count sings: ‘I will bring the price of croissants down for you.’
The video was shared to help raise the £10,000 needed to put down a deposit to run for mayor.
He was able to successfully quality after receiving 659 donations on his GoFundMe.
‘Make 2024 Bindependence Day!’ he wrote on the page.
What is Count Binface’s 2024 manifesto for London mayor?
Policies include renaming London Bridge after Phoebe Waller-Bridge (the Fleabag creator) and making Claudia Winkleman’s fringe Grade 1 listed.
He also promises to make Thames Water bosses take a dip in the Thames to ‘see how they like it’.
Other manifesto pledges include banning speakers on public transport, replacing the Millennium Dome with a nature reserve and tying government ministers’s pay to nurses for the next 100 years.
He also made some other political promises beyond the manifesto.
‘I’m the only politician who asks why a 99 flake costs a fiver,’ he said on Instagram.
Count Binface’s love of Ceefax is also included in the manifesto, with a pledge to reintroduce the teletext service to all homes within the M25.
Why did he change his name from Lord Buckethead?
Until 2018, Count Binface was known as Lord Buckethead – with many wondering why he changed his name.
Unluckily, it seems comedian Jon Harvey wound up in a copyright dispute over the character with US-based filmmaker Todd Durham.
Lord Buckethead first appeared in Durham’s 1984 sci-fi film Hyperspace – a Star Wars parody of sorts – as an intergalactic villain.
A few years after the film’s release, a version of Lord Buckethead – not played by Jon – went on to stand in the 1987 and 1992 UK general elections.
This Lord Buckethead was played by Mike Lee, the owner of the company that looked after UK distribution for the film, which was called Gremloids here.
Seemingly, this was an approved usage for the character.
But after Jon Harvey’s unofficial portrayal went viral in 2017, a legal dispute cropped up.
As the Count himself writes on his website: ‘In 2018 I had an unfortunate battle on the planet Copyright.
‘An elderly American human film producer took my Twitter account off me after I got famous.
‘So I had an upgrade and took on Boris Johnson in the 2019 election in my new and improved form, Count Binface.
‘I’m still your friendly neighbourhood space warrior campaigning for justice, lasers, Lovejoy and the return of Ceefax.’
A new, seemingly-approved performer took over the role of Lord Buckethead in 2019 and ran against Count Binface.
How many times has Count Binface run for London mayor?
Count Binface has only run for mayor once before, in 2021.
He has, however, run in other elections, including in the 2019 general election.
He was a candidate in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, which was former prime minister Boris Johnson’s seat at the time.
He ran again in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election in 2023, which was triggered when Johnson resigned as an MP.
How many votes has Count Binface received in previous elections?
In the 2019 general election, Count Binface got 69 votes. He was beaten by the new Lord Buckethead, who got 125 votes.
He came ninth in the 2021 elections with 24,775 first-choice votes, defeating Piers Corbyn and UKIP in the process.
‘This is a new record for an alien standing for public office on planet Earth,’ he said.
In the 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, he got 190 votes, defeating Piers Corbyn and UKIP again, as well as the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.
He has not ruled out an appearance in the general election expected later this year, telling PA that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s seat in Richmond, North Yorkshire, ‘does look a tiny bit on the tempting side’.
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