Prof Scott Wright
Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Media and Communication and Professor of Political Communication and Journalism, Bournemouth University
Deborah Taylor, Xinna Li, Victoria Knowles, Viorica Budu, Xiang Li, Omowonuola Okunnu, Diego R. Nunez, Jati Sekargati, Helen Bramah, Shepuya Famwang, Chunghui Chuang, Ahmet Buğra Kalender, Nadia Haq, Maggie Ka Yi Yeung, Aneta Postek –Mioduszewska, Soroush Sayyari, Bao Duong, Ibrahim Awawdeh, Laure Dedecker
UK Election 2024
Section 8: Personality politics and popular culture
87. Ed Davey: Towards a Liberal Populism? (Dr Tom Sharkey, Dr Sophie Quirk)
88. Why Nigel Farage’s anti-media election interference claims are so dangerous (Dr Lone Sorensen)
89. Nigel Farage and the political circus (Dr Neil Ewen)
90. Binface, Beany and Beyond: humorous candidates in the 2024 General Election (Prof Scott Wright)
91. What Corbyn support reveals about how Starmer’s Labour won big (Prof Cornel Sandvoss, Dr Benjamin Litherland, Dr Joseph Andrew Smith)
92. “Well that was dignified, wasn’t it?”: floor apportionment and interaction in the televised debates (Dr Sylvia Shaw)
93. TV debates: beyond winners and losers (Prof Stephen Coleman)
94. Is our television debate coverage finally starting to match up to multi-party politics? (Dr Louise Thompson)
95. Tetchiness meets disenchantment: capturing the contrasting political energies of the campaign (Prof Beth Johnson, Prof Katy Parry)
96. “We’re just normal men”: football and the performance of authentic leadership (Dr Ellen Watts)
97. ‘Make the friendship bracelets’: gendered imagery in candidates’ self-presentations on the campaign trail (Dr Caroline Leicht)
98. Weeping in Wetherspoons: generative Al and the right/left image battle on X (Simon Popple)
99. An entertaining election? Popular culture as politics (Prof John Street)
100. Changing key, but keeping time: the music of Election 2024 (Dr Adam Behr)
101. Truth or dare: the political veracity game (Prof John Corner)
‘Humorous’ candidates running for election are as quintessentially British as fish and chips. Statements to this effect are common: there is indeed a long history of humorous and satirical election candidates, dating back to the 19th Century, and the right to stand is an important part of the democratic system. This frames broadly supportive (and often extensive) media coverage. They have arguably gained more visibility since the 1980s when ‘Screaming Lord Sutch’ launched the ‘Official Monster Raving Loony Party’ with David Mellor complaining that the backdrop to the declaration in his constituency was “a lot of people dressed like idiots, behaving like idiots, and waving idiotic slogans.”
In the 2024 General Election, there were numerous humorous candidates. Candidates ‘do’ humour in different ways – often blending into a more critical satirical form. Some are poking fun at the mainstream parties and politicians; some use it purely to highlight single issues (e.g. fathers’ rights and Elmo); some are poking fun at the system itself, using the electoral process to promote themselves or their business. Then there are candidates from the major parties using humour to gain attention such as Ed Davey’s “comedy cannon”.
While a prominent phenomenon in British electoral politics, they have received scant scholarly attention. Here we present some initial findings from a wider piece of research that seeks to understand the phenomena – drawing here on interviews with humorous independent candidates: Count Binface (comedian Jon Harvey), Captain Beany and The Mitre TW9 Pub party (landlord, Chris French).
Motivations for Campaigning
The candidates had diverse motivations for running for election. Most were running to make a serious political point. Captain Binface noted that he wanted to “celebrate and defend the wonder of British democracy, which allows any citizen the right to stand for election no matter how idiotic their platform or ludicrous their get-up.” This was echoed by Captain Beany, who noted that democracy is “what I love about this country – we can air our views –free speech, in moderation of course.” Binface’s underlying political message was to highlight “the appalling chaos of the last 14 years, the damage being done to democracy across Earth, the horrific and increasing effects of climate change, and the continuing lack of Ceefax on British TV.” Captain Beany, who noted he was ‘eccentric’ and had some “half-baked” [bean] policies, was inspired by Sutch. He was motivated in part by a belief that people shouldn’t have to sit in baths of beans to raise funds and cited food and baby banks to decry the current state of the UK.
Chris French’s sole motivation was different: to gain “some free publicity for the pub”. He was making no direct political points and had limited interest in politics. He was effectively poking fun at the electoral process. French calculated that the cost of standing for election (£500 deposit returnable if a candidate wins 5% of the vote), was a cost-effective way to have a leaflet for the pub delivered to everyone in the constituency.
Impact of Humorous Candidates
While humorous candidates have had some success historically (e.g. Hartlepool FC mascot H’Angus the Monkey becoming mayor), most receive less than 5% of the vote and lose their deposit. But, as indicated above, the motivation is not to win power, but to highlight political or systemic issues and/or their brands, encourage democratic participation, have some fun, and the like. As French noted: “If I do win, I’m in the shit”, but only “5% of candidates actually win” and he’d “won before the election started” as he’d “achieved what I set out to do” in promoting the pub.
Each candidate received local, national and even international media coverage, allowing them to reach well beyond their local area. Binface, for example, was endorsed by the Daily Star and received features in the Guardian; BBC analysis of his policy proposal to cap the price of croissants, and international coverage (e.g. Global News in Canada). Beany was featured in the Independent, another ‘humorous’ candidate, AI Steve, was covered by NBC News amongst others. These candidates receive the kind of coverage most candidates can only dream of. While all lost their deposits (Beany receiving the most votes with 618), they were all effective in highlighting their concerns.
Looking forward, the £500 cost of running for election has not changed since 1985, making it cheaper year on year. There has been a doubling of independent candidates at this election to 459, continuing recent trends. It may be that the Electoral Commission moves to increase the deposit. However, such moves must be carefully balanced. Beany noted that he’d tapped into his pension while Harvey had “dipped (unwisely) into the “Binface piggy bank” (having crowd-funded the £10,000 to stand for mayor). Humorous candidates can perform an important democratic function, providing political critique and levity, and prompt reflection and dialogue about elections and democracy. What cost humour?
Note: this piece was jointly written by participants in the Bournemouth University Digital Methods Summer School.
Lead author, Scott Wright, is Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Media and Communication and Professor of Political Communication and Journalism
