Farage stays away as Clacton count continues

August 14, 2026 5:31 amResult expected soon An official announcement of the results in Clacton is expected within the next hour.Nigel Farage has already declared victory in the by-election, earlier telling GB News he had won “fairly convincingly”.“This is an overwhelming endorsement of me,” he added.The Reform leader is not attending the count and is instead at a campaign event with supporters. August 14, 2026 5:30 amWhy Farage could end up fighting for his Clacton seat three times in three years Nigel Farage resigned his Clacton seat to trigger a by-election five weeks ago.But the parliamentary investigation into his finances that prompted his resignation has not gone away, and could yet send Clacton back to the polls for a third time in three years.Election 1: the 2024 general electionFarage won Clacton in July 2024 at his eighth attempt to enter Parliament, taking the seat with a majority of 8,405.Reform UK’s national breakthrough followed fast, overtaking Labour in the polls within eight months, winning outright control of ten councils in 2025 and twelve more in 2026, and taking the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes.By the start of this year, Reform had led the polls for ten months. Then claims about Farage’s own finances began to surface.Election 2: the self-triggered by-electionFarage has been under scrutiny since May, when the Standards Commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, opened an investigation into a £5m gift he received in 2024, before he was elected, from the cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne, one of Reform’s largest donors. Farage says it did not need to be declared as it came before he entered Parliament, describing it as an “unconditional” gift partly to fund his security.Farage responded with a video statement on 7 July, calling the investigations “a political tool” and announcing a by-election in which he would stand, saying “the people of Clacton” should be “the judges of my actions”.Every major party declined to stand against him, branding it “a desperate stunt” and “a fake by-election”. Election 3: the possible recall petitionWinning on Friday does not end Farage’s troubles. Any investigations into him would resume in full if he returns to Parliament, and if either finds against him, the case goes to the Commons Standards Committee, which recommends a sanction to MPs.A suspension of ten or more sitting days would trigger a six-week recall petition. If 10 per cent of the electorate, around 7,800 people, sign it, a further by-election is called, and Farage could stand again. Four of six past petitions have unseated the MP.Crucially, the parties that boycotted this contest say they would not sit out the next one. Kemi Badenoch has committed the Conservatives to contest “any second by-election”, while Restore Britain, which also sat out this contest, has vowed to fight a second one. August 14, 2026 5:15 amA trip to The Jungle and nine Commons bids: Who is Nigel Farage? Nigel Paul Farage was born in Kent on 3 April 1964. His father, Guy Oscar Justus Farage, was a stockbroker, who it later emerged was also an alcoholic. He walked out on the family when Farage was five years old. Despite his tumultuous household circumstances, Farage attended Dulwich College, a private school in south London. After finishing school, he decided against going to university, instead becoming a trader on the London Metal Exchange in 1982. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage attends a press conference setting out plans to remove foreign nationals from British prisons (Photo: Getty Images)In 1993, Farage defected from the Conservative Party after John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty, which laid the foundations for the modern-day European Union (EU). The following year, he became a founding member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a party with a largely right-wing, Eurosceptic mandate whose primary goal was to get Britain out of the EU. He first ran for Parliament unsuccessfully in the 1994 Eastleigh by-election. His second attempt came in 1997, when he ran as UKIP’s candidate in the Salisbury constituency but lost to the Tories. In 1999, Farage was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England – a role he held until 2020, the year the UK officially left the EU. Farage spearheaded the Brexit campaign, and after the referendum vote in favour of leaving the EU, he resigned as UKIP’s leader. As the UK was engulfed in negotiations around its exit from the EU in 2019, Farage launched the Brexit Party, saying he wants a “democratic revolution” in UK politics. From the Brexit Party to Reform UKFollowing Brexit, the party changed its name to Reform UK. Farage stepped down from frontline politics in 2021, when he stepped down as Reform’s leader, instead embarking on a television career as a presenter on GB News. He made a brief return to the spotlight with his appearance on the ITV reality show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in 2023. In June 2024, he announced he would be Reform UK’s candidate in Clacton, taking over as the party’s leader again. Amid mounting scrutiny over his finances – including a £5m personal gift given to Farage by Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harbourne – the Reform leader announced last month he would be stepping down from his Clacton seat, triggering what he described as “people vs the Establishment” by-election. Prior to today’s by-election, Farage stood for Parliament seven times as a UKIP candidate without success, before finally securing the Clacton seat for Reform on his eighth attempt in the 2024 general election. Today’s by-election marks his ninth bid to enter the Commons. August 14, 2026 5:00 amFarage claims “overwhelming” victory, but refuses to attend the count Nigel Farage has claimed he has won the Clacton by-election, but refused to attend to the count citing an “organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result”.The Reform UK leader, speaking at a campaign event in the constituency, claimed Essex Police had advised him the disruption would take place around the time a declaration of the result was due to occur.A party spokesperson later said there had been a “credible threat” made against the Reform leader.In a statement, the returning officer, Ian Davidson, said there was “no issue in continuing the count”.He later told Sky News he was “not aware” of what Farage was referring to or the nature of the threat Reform claimed to have been informed about.When contacted by The i Paper, a spokesperson for Essex Police referred to Davidson’s initial statement.“We have a proportionate and robust policing operation to ensure the safety and security of all participants in the count,” they added.The i Paper understands no candidates have been told to avoid the count.Speaking at his campaign event, Farage said he had secured a “convincing, overwhelming win” as he declared voters had “stuck up two fingers to the entire political establishment”. August 14, 2026 5:00 amGood morning – and welcome back Welcome back to The i Paper’s politics blog on Friday, 14 August.Polls have long-closed in the Clacton by-election, which was triggered by Nigel Farage in July.And it was an unusual night as far as by-elections go.There were a record-breaking 34 candidates on the ballot on Thursday, despite all England’s major political parties – Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party – refusing to stand.The contest is estimated to have cost taxpayers around £250,000 and the 90cm-long ballot paper has also caused logistical problems for Tendring District Council and returning officer Ian Davidson.The size of the ballot paper meant larger tables than usual were required at the count, with the result set to be announced on the floor of Clacton Leisure Centre rather than on a stage due to the number of candidates who would have to fit on it.We’ll have all the updates throughout the day.