Firstly, I feel it's important to explain for people who haven't previously followed British politics but have been intrigued by the Binface story: last night's result wasn't actually a disappointment. Last night's result was a huge success.
Much as it might've been fun to fantasise, Count Binface was never actually going to win. He is, after all, a man with a bin on his head. But for him to get almost ten thousand votes - more than a quarter of the vote! - is spectacular. It massively exceeds any previous result for such a candidate.
And make no mistake, that is absolutely humiliating for Farage. Local polling had him winning with 73%, and that alone would have been deeply embarrassing. To only get 63% when no other serious party stood is much worse than was predicted anywhere.
On top of this, the investigation into his dodgy finances will restart when the parliamentary recess ends. But it will now have the added consideration of Farage having disrespected the Standards Committee, and there's precedent for that being treated as a serious offence. So it's highly likely there'll be a proper recall election in Clacton a few months from now.
Finally, this ridiculous debacle has ensured that his dodgy finances have received much greater national publicity than was previously the case, in a particularly superb example of the Streisand Effect.
All in all, it's gone very well.
