Friday 14 August 2026 7:16 am
Farage at the polling booth
Nigel Farage swept to victory in the Clacton by-election that he triggered to stave off an investigation into donations he received shortly before returning to frontline politics.The Reform UK leader won with over 11,000 more votes than the novelty candidate Count Binface, who was main opposition after every other major party refused to take part in the poll.Farage did not attend the count at Clacton, citing what he called a “credible” security threat against him. But before the final result was read out, he told supporters he had notched up a “convincing, overwhelming win”. Earlier in the evening, he also told GB News he had managed to beat “the establishment candidate”.The turnout of 44 per cent was considerably higher than most pollsters had expected given the absence of other major parties, though it was lower than the 58.7 per cent at the general election in 2024.Farage called the poll and stood down as Clacton MP five weeks ago following mounting scrutiny into his decision not to declare a £5m gift from Thai-based crypto magnate Christover Harborne in 2024.Announcing the decision, the Reform leader told supporters he had “done nothing wrong” – and that the people of his constituency should judge his actions in what would be a people versus the establishment poll.But almost immediately, the significance of the vote receded when the likes of Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats all said they would not be standing a candidate. Even Reform’s hard-right rival, Restore Britain, opted against running.
