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First it was Nigel versus the establishment. Now it’s Nigel versus the police (although perhaps they’re part of the same establishment lambasted by Farage throughout the Clacton by-election – indeed, throughout his political career). Did Essex police warn Farage not to attend the Clacton count? Did they say only that they thought there would be disruption? Does anyone actually care?
Clacton was, as it always would be, a clear win for Farage. But when a man wearing a large bin on his head can win 27 per cent of the vote against the leader of the party topping the polls, one has to ask: who was the real satire candidate? I’d say it was, rather, the supposed man of the people who called a by-election to deflect from coverage of the £5 million he had been gifted. Surely the really satirical point about Clacton is that its MP called a by-election so he could then claim that he could win a by-election in his own constituency.
The Clacton by-election has been an almost entirely pointless and unnecessary affair. It’s cost the people of Clacton around £250,000. But it has had one tangential effect: it has once again drawn attention to the Farage paradox. The former leader of UKIP, the Brexit party and now Reform UK is one of the most consequential political figures of recent decades. In fact, forget that ‘one of’…
