Speaker 1: Just when you thought world politics couldn't get any more ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Well let's turn to the Bin himself.
Speaker 3: Count Binface joins us in the studio.
Speaker 4: Hello Bin, it's count actually, but it's lovely to meet you, Paddy.
Speaker 4: The one.
Speaker 1: Tonight, far right British politician Nigel Farage is set to
Speaker 1: go head to head in a by election of his own,
Speaker 1: making his main opponent a joke candidate by the name
Speaker 1: of Count Binface who says he's an alien space warrior
Speaker 1: and wears a superhero costume featuring a bin for a head.
Speaker 4: Maybe this is just a group hallucination. Maybe we're all
Speaker 4: in one of Christopher Nolan's inceptions, and it's a giant
Speaker 4: publicity stunt for the Odyssey.
Speaker 2: Who knows.
Speaker 1: But the thing is the contest has turned into a circus.
Speaker 1: But the five million pound donation scandal which prompted it
Speaker 1: is deadly serious. I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to
Speaker 1: seven AM today. European correspondent for the Australian Financial Review
Speaker 1: Andrew Tillet on the contests, gandal behind it and the
Speaker 1: parallels between Farage and Australia is far right offering one nation.
Speaker 1: It's Thursday, August thirteenth, So Andrew, tonight people in Clacton,
Speaker 1: which is this little seaside town near London, are going
Speaker 1: out to vote, and this by election that they're heading
Speaker 1: to it really didn't have to happen. It's entirely of
Speaker 1: Nigel Farage's making. So tell me about why it is
Speaker 1: that he triggered this.
Speaker 5: Well scentually Ruby, it's emerging the last few weeks that
Speaker 5: Farage was given a few weeks before the twenty twenty
Speaker 5: four general election here in the UK five million pounds
Speaker 5: by a crypto currency tycoon called Christopher Harborn. And this
Speaker 5: now questions over just what such a gift.
Speaker 3: In tails Nigel Farage? Please, what has happened to this
Speaker 3: five million pound gift?
Speaker 2: With all due respect?
Speaker 6: What's it going to do with you?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 3: Because it speaks to the position you hold an office.
Speaker 3: Initially we were told that it was because of your
Speaker 3: personal security and it would pay for that for the
Speaker 3: rest of your life. Then apparently it was some kind
Speaker 3: of reward for campaigning for Brexit. I am told we
Speaker 3: have two different stories, which is the truth. I think
Speaker 3: you're controdicting yourself there, aren't you. Well, if you tell me.
Speaker 5: Farage didn't declare it in his Register of MP's interests,
Speaker 5: similar to what we have in Australia. He yes, oh
Speaker 5: this money, it was a personal gift. I wasn't a
Speaker 5: candidate at the time.
Speaker 2: It's an unconditional gift.
Speaker 6: I can spend it on Ferraris if I Want'd entirely
Speaker 6: up to me.
Speaker 5: But the rules are pretty clear, I say MPs, when
Speaker 5: they get elected, any gifts and benefits they have received
Speaker 5: in twelve months before their election they have to declare.
Speaker 5: And so we have this sort of situation where there
Speaker 5: was all this scrutiny over it, and so Forrag just
Speaker 5: sided to say, right, I'm going to short circuit. This
Speaker 5: will throw open to my constituency whether they're still what
Speaker 5: me is my MP.
Speaker 6: Today I will resign as a Member of Parliament for
Speaker 6: Clacton on Sea, thereby forcing a by election, which would
Speaker 6: happen I hope in short order. Now I've decided that
Speaker 6: the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions.
Speaker 6: This will be a people versus the establishment by election.
Speaker 6: It's a chance to stick two fingers up to the
Speaker 6: entire establishment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so we've got Farage trying to deflect from
Speaker 1: this scrutiny over his finances by calling this by election,
Speaker 1: but that seems to have gone awry when the major
Speaker 1: parties decided to not actually field any of their own candidates.
Speaker 5: Right yeah, I'm the Labor Party of the Liberal Democrat Party,
Speaker 5: the Conservative Party, the Greens, Restore UK, who's another sort
Speaker 5: of minor party on the right.
Speaker 2: Devil said, noap, this is a stunt.
Speaker 5: We're not going to indulge Farage in this by giving
Speaker 5: it sort of credibility. So we've ended up in this
Speaker 5: sort of effect where Farads is essentially running against himself
Speaker 5: plus thirty three other various novelties and misfits and single
Speaker 5: ish year people and independence and things like that. So
Speaker 5: it's all become quite a circus.
Speaker 1: And there's one of those thirty three that has attracted
Speaker 1: more attention than the others. Tell me about Count Binface.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah. Count Binface is the politician that Britain didn't
Speaker 5: know they needed, but he sort of seems to have
Speaker 5: captured a bit of a zeitgeist. He's a creation of
Speaker 5: a sort of a comic writer at Jonathan Harvey who
Speaker 5: sort of came up with Count bin Face as he's
Speaker 5: sort of like an intergalactic explorers is his backstory?
Speaker 6: Appear to be in out of space and wearing your bin?
Speaker 4: Well, what else would you expect mate? You know, I
Speaker 4: was on my way back home to Sigma No but
Speaker 4: of R and R and an old Nigel throws his
Speaker 4: toyes out of the prem as a hessy fit called
Speaker 4: an unnecessary by election. I got wind of that. I've
Speaker 4: turned around the starship pronto.
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 7: Lovely?
Speaker 5: He sort of devices that he satirizes the political process.
Speaker 6: What is your appeal going to be to the people
Speaker 6: of Clacton.
Speaker 4: I'm not Nigel Farage.
Speaker 5: He's run against prime ministers before in the Seas general elections,
Speaker 5: in by elections, He's run for Mayor of London in
Speaker 5: the past. In faces has been a bit of a joke.
Speaker 5: Just now one sort of taken him seriously. But because
Speaker 5: of the lack of organized opposition, and this guy just
Speaker 5: stands out.
Speaker 2: He literally just.
Speaker 5: Has quite a huge bin for a head and this
Speaker 5: sort of really funky little spacesuits as his costume.
Speaker 2: He's sort of become the rallying.
Speaker 5: Call for people who's looking to make a protest against
Speaker 5: against Ferrad.
Speaker 8: N Paige Sin face face absolutely, because you want camp
Speaker 8: in Face to be your elected representative in parliam.
Speaker 4: Havet's manifesto and there is a lot of rubbish in there, don't.
Speaker 1: Get me wrong.
Speaker 2: Is it basically against against for ours?
Speaker 5: These policies, some are pretty funny.
Speaker 2: You know, he wants to nationalize a deal.
Speaker 4: I mean some of my national policies will remain. I
Speaker 4: pledged to build at least one affordable house. I will
Speaker 4: nationalize adele. I heard you a bit about the water,
Speaker 4: and I'll make water bosses have to take a dip
Speaker 4: in British lievers to see how they like it. I'll
Speaker 4: price cap ninety nine flakes at ninety nine pence. I
Speaker 4: think the Clacton folk were like that one.
Speaker 5: It's sort of longing up with what would have been
Speaker 5: a pretty dull election campaign.
Speaker 1: And as you say, this isn't the first time that
Speaker 1: Campinface has contested a seat. And there is this history,
Speaker 1: isn't there in the UK of joke candidates like this
Speaker 1: running in elections.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's back to the sixties and seventies.
Speaker 5: You know it sort of started screaming awards such and
Speaker 5: the monster raving Looney Party.
Speaker 6: I think the best policy we've discussed and what's come
Speaker 6: out of is we're going to do away with January
Speaker 6: February so we can have a shorter winter, and I
Speaker 6: think that's an ideal.
Speaker 5: The Loonies have got about three candidates they're running in
Speaker 5: the by election. These are guys they sort of dress
Speaker 5: up in very sort of colorful costumes, you know, big
Speaker 5: hats and real oversized yellow rosettes and things like that.
Speaker 4: The first cabinet reshuffle.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the way that Farage sort of wants
Speaker 1: to present himself as anti establishment, and I think that's
Speaker 1: part of the reason that this by election is so
Speaker 1: interesting as an outsider, because Forage himself, at least at
Speaker 1: the beginning of his political career, was considered fringe, and
Speaker 1: he certainly wants to see himself as or portray himself
Speaker 1: as a political outsider. So there's something quite fascinating and
Speaker 1: watching him define himself as the more legitimate candidate against
Speaker 1: a guy with a bin on his face.
Speaker 2: Well, it's funny.
Speaker 5: The whole outsider attitude for rasis because this guy went
Speaker 5: to a private school, worked as a trader and in
Speaker 5: the city he made millions and then and then nine
Speaker 5: he started dabbling in politics and emerged as this sort
Speaker 5: of fringe eurosceptic campaigner. But he'd run seven times support
Speaker 5: to try and win a seat in Westminster before he
Speaker 5: won Clackton at his eighth attempt, so he's always just
Speaker 5: sort of seen his bit of this ravel rouser on
Speaker 5: the right. But yeah, he still very much portrays himself
Speaker 5: as Nigel versus what they call here the Unie Party,
Speaker 5: that the major labor conservative party, and that he's the
Speaker 5: one taking on the establishment. But it's an interesting image
Speaker 5: given that he's sort of like no rag so which
Speaker 5: is sort of story.
Speaker 1: And so none of these candidates are a real threat
Speaker 1: to Farage? Was that clear from the outset? Is that
Speaker 1: why none of the major parties even tried to stand
Speaker 1: Because you'd think that they might have taken the opportunity
Speaker 1: to try and contest against Farage, So why didn't they?
Speaker 2: Well, well then it's Eastiful. I'm in post in Essex.
Speaker 5: It's an older, poorer and wider electric than most of
Speaker 5: the country, so it's very much placed to Farage's strengths.
Speaker 2: But you know, in running Farrage.
Speaker 5: Is put on hold this sort of Parliamentary Standards Commission
Speaker 5: investigation into the five million pound donation. That process, if
Speaker 5: he wins the seat, that will restart and that may
Speaker 5: well find adverse finings against Farage, and then we could
Speaker 5: be back here again in a few months time having
Speaker 5: another Biola, and that is when the major parties will
Speaker 5: hop in, you know, they'll hopefully then be out from
Speaker 5: that point of view, be able to then argue, well,
Speaker 5: this guy has done the wrong thing.
Speaker 2: You should turf him out.
Speaker 5: And again the five billion though, has just got such
Speaker 5: headlines because it's just such a big, huge summer money,
Speaker 5: you know, almost ten million dollars. Could you imagine a
Speaker 5: politician's sto being given ten million dollars by a wealthy diary.
Speaker 5: It's just sort of extraordinary. So come Friday we may
Speaker 5: well start seeing these questions being raised again by the question.
Speaker 1: Still to come the similarities between Nigel Farage and Pauline Hanson.
Speaker 1: And so you've been in Clacton talking to people who
Speaker 1: are going to go out and vote. What sense do
Speaker 1: you get about what they think of both the donations
Speaker 1: and the lack of declaration and the kind of inability
Speaker 1: that Forage has had to answer what's actually going on
Speaker 1: with the money.
Speaker 5: I think it's pretty polarized for people who really believe
Speaker 5: in Farage. And then there's sort of elements here of
Speaker 5: you know, comparisons to people a Donald Trump and Pauline
Speaker 5: Hanson in terms of like voters who just think these
Speaker 5: people can do no wrong and see media scrutiny and
Speaker 5: political taxes sort of the establishment getting up on them.
Speaker 1: So do you feel even more in bold invate for
Speaker 1: Nigel Fararge this time.
Speaker 2: The last time? Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4: You know they're all getting at him and all that.
Speaker 2: It's like the new prime minister. You've got to give
Speaker 2: them a chance, all the stuff, you know, with the donations,
Speaker 2: because that's part of the reason you step down.
Speaker 3: What do you make of all that?
Speaker 1: They're all like it, They all do the same thing.
Speaker 2: So they're real sort of die hard for Arge supporters.
Speaker 5: They're sort of like they're willing to excuse or forgive
Speaker 5: the five million gift, you know, sort of saying you know,
Speaker 5: he needs it.
Speaker 2: I came across a few people who are very sort of.
Speaker 5: Dubious about it and sort of think, you know, five
Speaker 5: million pounds there are strings attached no matter what Farage,
Speaker 5: and people might say, you know, since that he's going
Speaker 5: to maybe act that this person's behest ferrage has a
Speaker 5: very sort of pro crypto currency policy position. So there's
Speaker 5: a danger that people may see him as just another
Speaker 5: politician because of it. But I don't think it's going
Speaker 5: to cost him the seat. Forage himself has never been
Speaker 5: personally popular in the terms of national polls and stuff
Speaker 5: like that. But Reform as a party has sort of
Speaker 5: come off the boil a bit in the last couple
Speaker 5: of months for different reasons.
Speaker 1: Yeah, tell me about why you think that is, Like,
Speaker 1: how much is this scandal playing into that? Is it
Speaker 1: to do with the new Labor prime minister? Why has
Speaker 1: Reformed popularity gone down in recent months?
Speaker 5: There's not just one factor involved. I mean, Kirstarmer was
Speaker 5: a deeply unpopular prime minister and the beneficial the major
Speaker 5: beneficiary that had been agreeing to some extent, and also
Speaker 5: Reform on the right, you know, with white working class
Speaker 5: normal labor supporters going and throwing their support behind Faraj.
Speaker 2: The Labor Party.
Speaker 5: You know, a month of Sogo got attack together and
Speaker 5: replaced Starmer with Andy Burnham, who's seen as a much
Speaker 5: more relatable politician.
Speaker 8: Three things you probably already know about me. I go
Speaker 8: to a lot of gigs. I do like a paint
Speaker 8: and I have been known to give a DJ set
Speaker 8: from time to time. Well, today's announcement is very close
Speaker 8: to my heart. I'm giving thousands of pubs, clubs and
Speaker 8: music venues are twenty percent cut in their business rates.
Speaker 8: These places deserve.
Speaker 5: So he's made the Labor Party competitive and has given
Speaker 5: voters a reason to have a second look at Labor.
Speaker 5: At the same time, FORADS has had this sort of trouble,
Speaker 5: the question over the donations, a bit of a sense
Speaker 5: of drift around the party. That Reform did really well
Speaker 5: at the May local elections, which were devastating for Starmer,
Speaker 5: but they haven't really been able to sort of capitalize
Speaker 5: the Conservatives that sort of started to get their act
Speaker 5: together as well and trying to reclaim a bit of
Speaker 5: the territory they've lost to Ferrage as well. So it's
Speaker 5: politics is getting a lot more competitive now. But I
Speaker 5: think the big change is Andy Burnham's arrival as PM.
Speaker 5: It's it's a completely different dynamic and Farage has been
Speaker 5: a bit wrong footed and just hasn't been able to
Speaker 5: sort of find his line and linked against a new,
Speaker 5: more able opponent.
Speaker 1: And here in Australia. Pauline Hanson's One Nation is also
Speaker 1: facing a lot of scrutiny over its funding and over
Speaker 1: Hanson's close ties to billionaire Gina Reinhart. Do you get
Speaker 1: the sense that she's at the risk of falling into
Speaker 1: some of these same potholes as Farage. Do you see
Speaker 1: any similarities there?
Speaker 2: It is very interesting because like Pauline was over here
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago and met with ferrage O, Yeah.
Speaker 7: I'm not met yet. You've got a simple for going
Speaker 7: on down that what do you think of her? Well
Speaker 7: that she never presents to me once she's not those
Speaker 7: She's remarkable as you, remarkable as you keep.
Speaker 5: The immigration debate in both countries is very similar at
Speaker 5: the moment, and in Farage and Hanson has sort of
Speaker 5: adopted a similar sort of anti immigration stances.
Speaker 2: Obviously we have different donation.
Speaker 5: Laws and scrutinies, and I don't think there's been any
Speaker 5: suggestion that Hanson has done anything wrong in terms of
Speaker 5: following the rules in the way that Farage has. But
Speaker 5: it goes to this image of these battlers, anti establishment types.
Speaker 5: They're hanging around with big money money that sort of
Speaker 5: has a vested interest attached to it, and I think
Speaker 5: Hanson needs to be careful being seen as you know,
Speaker 5: as someone who's doing gender reine Art's bidding can be
Speaker 5: very dangerous to sort of get into that trap.
Speaker 1: I think, well, Andrew, thank you so much for speaking
Speaker 1: with me.
Speaker 2: Thanks really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Also in the news, the Commonwealth Bank has become the
Speaker 1: latest big lender to report a drop in lending due
Speaker 1: to the property market slump. There's been a fifteen percent
Speaker 1: drop in mortgage lending since the budget was handed down,
Speaker 1: with the sharpest fall in investor loans. The bank expects
Speaker 1: first home buyers to enter the property market once they
Speaker 1: expect interest rates to fall. And the Liberals have shut
Speaker 1: down colleague Andrew Bragg's comments that migration might be slashed
Speaker 1: to one hundred and eighty thousand a year with cuts
Speaker 1: to backpackers and international students. They say Bragg's speech at
Speaker 1: the Press Club on Wednesday doesn't reflect the agreed position
Speaker 1: of the Shadow Cabinet, The Coalition, One Nation and Labor
Speaker 1: are all yet to release their targets for net migration.
Speaker 1: I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am. Thanks for listening.