A pilot drew the outline of a giant bin off the coast of Clacton, days before Farage faces Count Binface in one of the strangest byelections Britain’s seen.
The shape showed up on flight-tracking software as the aircraft repeatedly changed direction over the North Sea on Saturday afternoon. Nothing was visible in the sky itself, the recorded flight path formed the outline. According to reporting based on Flightradar24 data, the privately owned light aircraft took off from Earls Colne Airfield near Colchester at 2.48pm, flew towards Clacton, then spent about 32 minutes making carefully timed turns between roughly 2,100ft and 4,150ft.
The aircraft was a single-engined Beagle B121 Pup. The whole flight lasted about 85 minutes, landing back at Earls Colne shortly after 4pm. Records reportedly show it had flown to Essex from Henstridge Airfield in Dorset earlier that day.
‘An incredibly skilled pilot’
Whoever was flying knew exactly what they were doing. A source at Earls Colne Airfield told the Telegraph: “They were an incredibly skilled pilot to pull something like that off. It was very impressive.”
The pilot’s identity hasn’t been disclosed, and there’s no confirmed link to Count Binface’s campaign or anyone connected to it. Until someone claims it, this stays an unexplained piece of aerial mischief at an exceptionally convenient moment.
Farage triggered this byelection by resigning and immediately announcing he’d stand again, after a parliamentary standards investigation opened into the £5m gift he received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne before the 2024 election. The investigation’s examining whether he should have registered it after entering Parliament. Farage denies breaking any rules and calls the scrutiny politically motivated. The inquiry stopped when he stopped being an MP. Win Thursday, and it restarts.
Farage remains the clear favourite
He’s still expected to win comfortably. A Survation telephone poll of 502 Clacton adults, conducted 16-24 July, put him on 73% among likely voters once undecideds were stripped out. Binface came second on 20%, Laurence Fox on 2%, everyone else sharing 5%.
So a Binface win remains extremely unlikely. The campaign’s still become far bigger than anyone reasonably expected when Farage first called it. Binface has published a full manifesto, appeared on national and international television, and released a musical election broadcast attacking Farage’s finances and Clacton record directly. His pledges include spending more time in Clacton than Washington DC, restoring the 99 Flake to 99p, and refusing any £5m gifts from crypto billionaires. Residents have been chanting “Binface,” “vote Binface” and “bin for the win” at Farage while he’s out canvassing.
A record-breaking ballot paper
Binface and Farage are far from the only names on it. Tendring District Council has confirmed 34 candidates are standing, believed to be a UK record, beating the previous mark of 26 at Haltemprice and Howden in 2008. Clacton’s ballot paper is expected to run about three feet long, longer than most voters’ arms, and roughly four times the cost of a standard one to produce.
The Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and Greens all sat this one out, leaving a crowded field of independents and minor parties, including three separate Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidates.
Farage wanted this byelection to deliver a public judgment on his conduct. The result will likely send him back to Parliament anyway. The campaign that got him there has been shaped by a man in a silver bin costume and, now, a pilot who drew an even bigger one over the North Sea. The flight won’t change the maths. It’s still a fitting contribution to a contest that turned absurd almost the moment Farage called it.
One response to “Mystery pilot draws giant bin over Clacton days before Farage faces Count Binface”
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The Bin has left it mark, but Farage has not. where are his achievement’s for the people of Claction? It’s only been about himself and how he can hide his crypto financing away for himself. I can see no benefit for anyone in Clayton.
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