'Put Your Vote in the Bin': Keir Starmer Roasts Reform UK Defector in Hilarious Final PMQs

Keir Starmer used his final Prime Minister's Questions appearance to back Count Binface in the Clacton by-election, joining the pile-on against Nigel Farage and telling MPs voters should 'put your vote in the bin.'

Starmer Backs Count Binface

The news came during Starmer's last PMQs in the Commons on Wednesday, 15 July, when he was asked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch whether he agreed the country deserved a televised debate between Nigel Farage and Count Binface.

Starmer's answer drew laughter and applause as he said: 'Mr Speaker, they intend to spend the summer arguing with a bin, my advice to everyone is to put your vote in the bin.'

For context, the Clacton by-election was triggered after Farage resigned as the seat's MP and said he would stand again, setting up a contest that has become part political theatre, part very odd summer sideshow.

The vote is now scheduled for 13 August, and the race has narrowed sharply after Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens all decided not to field candidates.

That has left Count Binface, the satirical candidate created by comedian Jonathan David Harvey, as one of the few recognisable challengers standing against the Reform UK leader. The by-election had been described by major parties as a stunt, while Farage has framed it as a direct fight with the establishment.

Clacton Vote Turns Weird

Farage forced the contest after stepping down in order to seek a fresh mandate in Clacton, a move that immediately triggered criticism from opponents who said the whole thing smelled of political theatre. The by-election then took on a life of its own, with Count Binface emerging as the novelty candidate most likely to benefit from the circus, if that is the right word for it.

Starmer was not the only Westminster figure to toy with the gag. Badenoch's own teasing reference to a debate between Farage and Count Binface, while Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also said he would back the parody candidate after making his own joke about refusing to support 'joke figures with ridiculous policies.'

The exchange briefly turned sharper when Reform MP Danny Kruger challenged Starmer over whether he really supported a man 'with a bin on his head.' Starmer swatted it away with another line aimed at Reform's habit of hoovering up defectors, joking that he knew the party believed in 'recycling politicians' and wondering whether Kruger had really imagined he would spend the summer arguing with a bin when he crossed the floor.

The Clacton race has also become awkwardly surreal in other ways. Another MP joked about a legal route between 'Planet Sigma Nine and Clacton,' a nod to Binface's fictional backstory, while bookmakers still had Farage as the favourite even as the parody candidate's odds shortened.

Why the Story Stuck

This story has travelled far beyond the usual by-election chatter because it has all the ingredients social media loves and serious politics tends to hate, namely a high-profile defection, a former party leader trying to reclaim a seat, and a joke candidate with a genuine audience. Major outlets said the contest was already being treated as a summer curio, but the Binface angle gave it the kind of absurdity that cuts through in a matter of minutes.

There is also a harder edge underneath the laugh line. Farage is under scrutiny over finances and a parliamentary standards investigation, and his decision to force a by-election was read by opponents as an attempt to reset the narrative on his own terms.

Instead, he has ended up sharing the stage with a man in a bin costume, which is frankly mad for someone who wanted a clean political relaunch.

Starmer's own final PMQs carried a more personal note in its closing stretch, with tributes traded across the chamber and even Badenoch offering a nod to his family's support. But the line that will travel is the one about the bin, because that was the moment the House decided to go all in on the joke and, for once, the joke had teeth.