Dawn had long broken in the Essex town of Clacton-on-Sea when the results for the byelection came in. After a gruelling count, an atmosphere of deep exhaustion had settled over the room. Even the man with a dustbin on his head looked weary.
As it was declared that Nigel Farage had, as expected, won, there was no cheering in the room, which had been boycotted by the Reform UK leader and his supporters; instead there was only an overwhelming sense of futility.
Farage forced the byelection at the start of last July in an attempt take control of a narrative tide that had turned against him. After the Guardian revealed he had received a £۵m personal gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto billionaire, in April ۲۰۲۴ he had been dogged by questions about his financial backing. Other revelations followed and questions mounted.
The parliamentary standards watchdog announced it was opening a formal investigation into gifts received by Farage, and the long, regular press conferences headed by the Reform UK leader abruptly stopped. When he did a very limited number of interviews, the normally performatively affable politician was testy and defensive.
He resigned as the MP for the Clacton constituency at the start of July, saying the “people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions”, and billing the fight as “a people versus the establishment byelection”. The establishment, however, chose not to play. All of the major parties declined to field candidates and take part in what they called a “media circus” and “vanity project”.
Instead, Count Binface, the self-declared “entirely independent space warrior” created by the comedian Jon Harvey, stepped into the void. It felt, at times, less like an election campaign and more of a showcase for British humour, the ultimate distillation of the concept of a summer “silly season” of news.
And while the people of Clacton did back Farage again, this was no overwhelming victory. The Reform UK leader won ۲۲,۲۳۹ votes, ۶۳.۳۴% of the vote on a ۴۴.۳۷% turnout. Convincing, yes, but significantly short of the ۷۲% won by David Davis in ۲۰۰۸ when he resigned his seat and stood again as a protest over the issue of civil liberties.
With no other mainstream options, the parody candidate Count Binface, Farage’s nearest competitor, attracted ۹,۴۵۵ votes, ۲۶.۹۳% of the total. In his “victory speech” posted on X he noted that this was a ۱۰,۰۰۰% increase on the ۹۵ votes he managed against Andy Burnham in the Makerfield byelection. “A new dawn has broken, has it not?” he wrote, echoing Tony Blair’s ۱۹۹۷ victory speech. “Literally, because it’s past ۶.۳۰ in the morning here in Clacton-on-Sea.”
In the end, Farage was not there for the count. Overnight, Reform UK said police had told him not to attend because of a “credible threat” against him, although Essex police contradicted this claim.
Labour said the result was “no victory” for Farage, with the party’s chair, Bridget Phillipson, saying “the mountain of sleaze and scandal he and Reform are now engulfed in has grown and grown while he’s been trying to distract the public by fighting a byelection against a bin”. The Liberal Democrats said Farage had come away from the byelection “looking daft”. Farage himself was atypically restrained, writing on X: “The result in Clacton speaks for itself.”
This election reportedly cost Reform UK around £۱۰,۰۰۰. It cost the taxpayer around £۲۵۰,۰۰۰, after the government said it would be illegal for Reform UK to cover the costs, as the party had offered. But it also cost Farage time and energy.
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Last summer he dominated the news agenda with a series of press conferences and public appearances. This year he held his first press briefing since May on ۳ August, and another a week later. Unlike his predecessor, Andy Burnham has refused to cede the battlefield, taking off on a summer tour of his own with a flurry of announcements about “everyday fixes”.
Farage has instead used his social media channels to post videos of his most loyal supporters. He may soon have to call on them again. The parliamentary standards inquiry, which will also look into allegations that Farage was financially supported by the crypto gambler and convicted fraudster George Cottrell, was paused when Farage forced the byelection, but it resumed on Friday morning.
If parliament imposes sanctions for failing to declare the gifts, he may be suspended from the House of Commons and potentially face a second byelection. When the Guardian spoke to residents before this byelection, constituents voiced little enthusiasm for their MP, or for Westminster politics in general. Next time, their tether may just break.
