NIGEL FARAGE’S desperate by-election gambit has descended into farce as his Reform party was rocked by fresh funding revelations.

It emerged that the Reform boss’s £5 million donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, and other cash for the party, was referred to the National Crime Agency as suspicious.

Labour Party chair Anna Turley called the news “astonishing and deeply serious” and called on Mr Farage to “come clean and co-operate” with the agency.

The fresh scandal about Mr Farage’s funding, first reported by the Guardian, came as he faced the prospect of a hot summer campaigning to keep his Clacton seat in the face of a challenge by Count Binface.

The perennial comedy candidate was the only confirmed opponent to Mr Farage in the by-election he provoked to regain control of a media narrative over sleaze which was gradually paralysing his political operation.

However, the Tories, Labour, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Restore parties all called Reform’s bluff by confirming that they would not stand in the by-election, describing it as a farce.

The local Green party was the last to declare its abstention, issuing a statement saying “we have no intention of helping to legitimise a by-election that appears designed not to serve local residents but to serve Nigel Farage’s personal political ambitions.

“This contest is not about the people of Clacton. It is about one politician placing himself at the centre of a media spectacle and expecting local residents to play supporting roles in a drama of his own making.”

Commons and criminal inquiries are continuing into both the donation by Mr Harborne and funding from convicted fraudster George Cottrell, a long-standing associate of Mr Farage.

It is possible that the parliamentary probe will result in sanctions forcing another by-election in Clacton, something Mr Farage’s failed gamble sought to pre-empt.

Unite the union general secretary Sharon Graham called Mr Farage’s stunt the “latest distraction from the everyday issues real people are facing that will have workers and communities holding their head in their hands.

“Everyday people are hurting and this latest pantomime does nothing to ease their pain.

“Nigel Farage is certainly no friend of the working class. A privately educated former banker who moved from trading in the City to trading in fear.

“The rise of Reform and Restore is down to the non-delivery of Labour.

“It is now time for Labour to deliver. This latest diversion must not distract from that.”

A YouGov poll found that just 12 per cent of voters believe the Reform leader has been honest about his financial affairs, while 60 per cent think he has not.

43 per cent opposed his decision to force a by-election, with 24 per cent supportive.

The Liberal Democrats were pushing the government to obstruct Mr Farage’s resignation from the Commons until the investigation into his conduct is complete. Deputy leader Daisy Cooper told MPs that Mr Farage used to believe that “leave means leave.”

That will not happen. Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has to approve such things, said “it is a farce and a desperate distraction, and the people of Clacton deserve better. But if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won’t stop him.”

However, all parties are happy to take advantage of Mr Farage’s self-inflicted discomfort.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch flirted with backing Reform’s only Clacton rival, saying: “Let’s see what kind of campaign Count Binface runs and who the establishment really is.

“If it’s the people versus the establishment, I think Nigel Farage might be looking like the establishment and Count Binface may be the people.  

“The whole thing is a farce.”

And Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis also climbed on the Binface bandwagon, saying “looks like Count Binface will be sort of stepping forward, and good luck to him,” while deputy premier David Lammy told MPs the Clacton poll was definitely “a two-horse race.”

Count Binface himself, interviewed by the BBC’s Today programme, acknowledged that he would “probably not” win in Clacton, adding “but then you know my job is to celebrate and defend the wonders of British democracy.”

Boosting Binface is an each-way bet for the established parties, since if he is easily beaten by Mr Farage it is hardly a vindication of Reform, while if he polls strongly it will invite further ridicule of the hard-right leader.