A summary of today’s developments:
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Nigel Farage was declared winner of the Clacton byelection. Ian Davidson, the acting returning officer, also said voter turnout had been 44.37%.
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Farage wasn’t at the counting centre to give a traditional victory speech – he said earlier in the morning that he would not attend the count, claiming Essex police had advised him about a plot to embarrass him on stage during the result announcement.
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Nigel Farage has become the first winning parliamentary candidate not to attend the declaration of their byelection result since Bobby Sands in 1981.
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Essex police said there were no “incidents or issues” regarding the Clacton byelection on Thursday or overnight, and the decision of whether candidates attend the election count is “for individuals and their security teams”. Nigel Farage said he would not attend the official declaration of the result at Clacton Leisure Centre as Essex police had told him about an “organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result”.
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Labour said the Clacton byelection was “no victory for Nigel Farage” and “shows he likely has so much to hide”. Party chair Bridget Phillipson said: Let’s be clear: this is no victory for Nigel Farage. 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.
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Andy Burnham on Friday announced that has called in the military and temporarily banned on disposable barbecues as wildfires burn in the West Midlands.
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Flooding could follow the wildfires sweeping the country, Andy Burnham has said. The Prime Minister made the warning as he visited the scene of a fire in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, where residents were forced to evacuate. Despite a record breaking dry summer, the latter part of the year is expected to be very wet.
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Dennis Bacon, 63, will take charge of Norfolk County Council and its £2.3bn budget next month after councillors backed his appointment by 45 votes to 18. But opposition councillors criticised the process which put him in line to oversee the council’s 8,000-strong workforce, claiming it was rushed and inadequately tested.
Dennis Bacon, 63, will take charge of Norfolk County Council and its £2.3bn budget next month after councillors backed his appointment by 45 votes to 18.
The businessman runs boutique Norwich B+B 38 St Giles with his daughter Holly - and were crowned winners of Channel 4’s Four in a Bed last year.
But opposition councillors criticised the process which put him in line to oversee the council’s 8,000-strong workforce, claiming it was rushed and inadequately tested.
Liberal Democrat group leader Brian Watkins said: “The process has been carried out with undue haste, with barely any time for proper scrutiny.
“It has been widely reported that Bacon has no background in local government. Surely that should have been a key requirement in this appointment.”
Green leader Maxine Webb said candidates faced just a one-hour interview and no psychometric testing.
She also complained the £215,000 role was advertised only on the council’s website and LinkedIn for a relatively brief period, and claimed the selection panel was not politically balanced.
Lib Dem councillor Dan Roper said he would expect a one-hour interview for “the lowest grade of manager” at County Hall, not its most senior officer, and branded the process “flawed”.
The top job became vacant when Tom McCabe quit in June, just over a month after Reform took control of the council.
Bacon is due to begin the role on 7 September.
As well as a temporary ban on disposable barbecues, Andy Burnham warned smokers against lighting up outdoors and urged them to dispose of cigarettes carefully.
Nineteen houses have been fully destroyed and 18 damaged by the wildfire in Stourbridge, West Midlands Fire Service Chief Fire Officer Simon Tuhill said.
Flooding could follow the wildfires sweeping the country, Andy Burnham has said.
The Prime Minister made the warning as he visited the scene of a fire in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, where residents were forced to evacuate.
Despite a record breaking dry summer, the latter part of the year is expected to be very wet.
Speaking to broadcasters on Friday afternoon, the prime minister paid tribute to the work of firefighters, and added:
We might be in for a wet autumn and winter straight after this, because of El Nino and some of the issues there, which was reported to Cobra. So, after fire could come floods.
We have to face up to the changing climate. I think we need a different debate about that. There’s no point denying where we are. We need to face up to it. We need more clean energy. We need to see that transition accelerate. Those are all of the issues that, you know, are right now in discussion.
But the Cobra meeting earlier this week, I think has enabled us to mobilise resource today to individuals, to communities, and to our fire and rescue services, and we’re very, very grateful to them.
Nigel Farage has become the first winning parliamentary candidate not to attend the declaration of their byelection result since Bobby Sands in 1981.
Sands was an imprisoned Irish Republican Army hunger striker who was elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in 1981. He stood as an ‘Anti H-Block prison’ candidate in the April 1981 byelection and was serving a 14-year sentence for possession of a firearm and was being held at the Maze Prison. Sands was on hunger strike when he became an MP. He died in May 1981, aged 27, after 66 days without food.
Two months after his death, the Conservative government passed the Representation of the People Act 1981, which disqualified people sentenced to more than one year in prison from membership of the House of Commons while detained.
Has Reform UK emerged stronger or weaker as a result of the Clacton byelection? And what next for the party and its leader, Nigel Farage?
The Guardian’s Alexandra Topping and Rowena Mason discuss all things Clacton on the Politics Weekly podcast.
Ed Davey, leader of the the Liberal Democrats, on Friday called for Andy Burnham to reconvene Cobra over the extreme heat and wildfires.
“The country is burning – devastating wild fires in the Midlands and the New Forest, hospitals dangerously overheating and the heat’s impact on our railways – and Andy Burnham’s only solution so far seems to be preventing the sale of disposable barbecues,” Davey said in a statement.
Burnham had convened an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesday. On Friday he announced that he has called in the military and temporarily banned on disposable barbecues to combate the wildfires currently burning through the country.
“With the fifth hottest day on record, and Britain’s fifth heatwave of the year, we’re well past that. Burnham needs to reconvene Cobra immediately and set out a proper plan. That plan needs to fully meet this moment, a proper strategy to make the UK climate-ready for this summer and beyond,” Davey said.
Burnham calls in military and bans disposable barbecues as wildfires burn in heatwave
Andy Burnham on Friday announced that has called in the military and temporarily banned on disposable barbecues as wildfires burn in the West Midlands, the Press Association reports.
“Britain is a tinderbox right now, and please just have that in your mind,” he told reporters in Stourbridge as he warned smokers to be careful.
Burnham also said that fire and rescue services will be given more cash to help with their jobs. The prime minister said he will also gather together firefighters for a summit at the end of summer to “make sure they are properly resourced going forwards make sure they are properly resourced going forwards”.
“We’ve lost firefighters in recent years. I know it as a former mayor, from a very grassroots level, some of the pressures on our fire and rescue services. I can’t say today that we’ve done enough to fully resource them to deal with these type of incidents, and I want our firefighters to know that I understand how it seems from their point of view, and I’m going to convene that summit to make sure we get in place the right and support, including the aerial support, permanently if that is what they deem is needed,” Burnham said.
For more of our live coverage of the wildfires:
In some more non-Clacton news: the UK’s leading climate organisations have accused Andy Burnham of “remaining silent” on the climate crisis as the country struggles to cope with its fifth heatwave of the year.
The Guardian’s Matthew Taylor writes:
As widespread droughts and devastating wildfires grip the country, green groups have written to Burnham urging him to “show leadership” and be honest with workers and the public that the climate crisis is driving the extreme conditions they are facing.
“Without naming the cause of our rapidly changing environment, you will be unable to adequately prepare the country for the adaptations it will need to make, and the efforts needed to cut carbon emissions rapidly,” they write.
Burnham has faced growing criticism – including from within Labour – for failing to make any major statement on the climate crisis despite the fossil fuel-driven temperatures, droughts and wildfires that have hit not just the UK but countries across Europe.
Friday’s letter is signed by more than 50 groups, including Greenpeace, WWF, Green New Deal Rising, the Women’s Institute, Uplift and Friends of the Earth.
Here is a quote from a piece by our chief reporter Daniel Boffey about the Clacton byelection which has just been published:
Across the 90cm long ballot paper containing all the names of the parody and independent candidates for the seat of Clacton – it was the longest ballot paper in UK electoral history – a disgruntled voter had made their mark: “What a disgraceful waste of money.”
Read more here: ‘Disgraceful’: what one photo from Clacton tells us about British politics in 2026
Updated
Away from the Clacton byelection for the moment, relations between the UK and Israel have been increasingly strained in recent months. Isreal’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not helped that with comments made on a podcast where he called the UK “the Islamic republic of Britain” and also described the country as the “first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon”.
Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem and Rowena Mason have the story: Benjamin Netanyahu describes UK as ‘first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon’
Richard Tice has doubled-down on the “credible threat” that kept Nigel Farage from attending the byelection results.
Reform UK said overnight that police had told Farage not to attend the count due to a “credible threat” against him, which the Press Association understands is not the case.
“Lefty journalists still don’t get it,” Tice posted on X. “Last week Met Police & Counter Terrorism had to admit they messed up over an alleged firebombing at Nigel’s home last year. Now they’re bleating & questioning the judgment of Nigel’s security team on whether to attend count or not. It’s as though they wanted something bad to happen.”
Delyth Jewell, a member of Plaid Cymru, called out Nigel Farage for not attending the byelection results.
“Farage has form in not attending by-election counts. Last year, in Caerphilly, he was reportedly waiting in a lay-by outside Machen, ready to descend if Reform won. Only, Plaid won, and Farage never showed,” Jewell posted on X.
“But boycotting your own result treats democracy as being somehow optional.”
Jack Dart, founder of the Reform Watch group that monitors Reform UK party officials, said that it was hard to see the Clacton byelection as “anything other than a humiliation for Reform”.
“One in four people turned out to choose a bin over Nigel Farage,” Dart posted on X. “Nigel Farage is the most unpopular he’s ever been.”
Columnist Owen Jones writes that the fact that parody candidate Count Binface won more than a quarter of the vote “is a warning in itself” for what lies ahead for Nigel Farage:
Yes, this ‘independent space warrior’ secured plenty of media attention, but he had precious little ground game – that is, an army of volunteers to get out the vote. Many voters I spoke to hadn’t even heard of him. It seems plausible that some of those who made Count Binface the most successful joke candidate in history had previously voted not just Labour, Lib Dem or Green, but Conservative too.
Farage refused to attend the official declaration of this election he chose to call. That suggests not just petulance and contempt for his own voters, but the insecurities of a jittery man. He claims Essex police had told him about an “organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result”, but the local force said there had been no “incidents or issues” related to the byelection and that attendance was up to candidates. And did Farage not claim that his £5m personal gift was needed to pay for his security?
The explanation is probably more mundane. Being mocked on stage by a man in a bin does not exactly provide the optics of a heroic struggle against the establishment.
Luke Tryl, the UK Director of the research agency More in Common, said a big takeaway from the byelection is that Reform should think about “how to detoxify their brand”.
“The result is a tale of two numbers,” Tryl said. “Farage’s raw vote total of 22,000, above his 2024 vote, in an August, semi-uncontested by-election, is impressive, suggesting no diminution of enthusiasm among his supporters, and some new converts,” Tryl said in a statement. “But his 63%vote share is at the lower end of expectations, a reminder that his opponents are highly motivated to turn out too, whoever the main challenger is, giving Binface nearly 10,000 votes.”
He continued: “That doesn’t matter in Clacton, which had the highest combined ‘right’ vote in the country in 2024. But in swing seats, where the opposition unites, and the Tories refuse to be squeezed, the ‘anti-Farage’ vote becomes a real problem. We saw anti-Reform tactical voting and turnout play out in Makerfield and in Gorton and Denton.”
Tryl said he heard from “both sides” in his Clacton focus groups.
“Voters who enthusiastically backed Farage and saw the finance row as an establishment stitch-up, or ‘no worse than what other politicians do’, but also many on the right, including former Conservative voters, angered by what they saw as an unnecessary by-election and willing to vote, or sit the contest out, in order to send Farage a message,” Tryl said.
He continued: “That intensity mattered less under Starmer, when the left were more divided. But if Andy Burnham manages to unite the left and lead Labour into the next general election, there will be a greater premium on Reform thinking about how to detoxify their brand, both to win back their wavering voters, and to reassure the wider public to avoid mobilising the anti-Farage vote.”
Futile Clacton byelection has done Farage no favours
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.
Nigel Farage has defeated Count Binface to win the Clacton byelection, in a contest boycotted by every other major political party.
The Reform UK leader received 22,239 votes (63.34%), while Count Binface received 9,455 (26.93%). Farage was absent from the vote count held at Clacton leisure centre, saying he would not be ‘demeaned and humiliated by nobodies’
Here’s a breakdown of yesterday’s byelection results, courtesy of The Guardian’s graphics team:
Neal Lawson, director of cross-party campaign group Compass, said on Friday that “ a precedent has been set not to stand in every constituency” with the Clacton byelection:
Farage’s inevitable win is less of an endorsement of him and more an indictment of the parties whose job it is to challenge him.
“The people of Clacton aren’t pawns to be played with. They’re 50,000 of an electorate that has had its views skewed and its votes taken for granted time and time again.
But a precedent has been set not to stand in every constituency. They’ve done it once, they can do it again. This time they stood aside to let Reform win - next time they should stand aside to beat them.
Parliamentary standards watchdog resumes investigation into Nigel Farage
The website of Parliament’s standards commissioner has updated to confirm that the investigation into Nigel Farage over accusations that he failed to declare gifts and donations has resumed.
The website had previously stated that the process had been suspended from 8 July, when Farage resigned to stand for reelection in Clacton.
The Guardian’s Peter Walker has more.
Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally, congratulated Nigel Farage for his “triumphant reelection” in Clacton.
"Nigel Farage had the courage and dignity to submit himself once again to the judgment of the voters, the sole masters in a democracy,” Bardella posted on X. “His triumphant reelection, despite the machinations of the establishment parties, proves that nothing can stop common sense: the British know that @Nigel_Farage is a fervent patriot who will do everything to set his country right.”
Nigel Farage should now “answer serious outstanding questions about why he hid his £5m from the public,” the Tories said this morning.
A Conservative party spokesperson said:
This byelection was a farce started by Nigel Farage to try and dodge scrutiny of his fishy £5m personal donation.
Without any serious opponent in this pointless byelection, Farage has barely increased his overall vote total, secured fewer votes than the Conservative Giles Watling did in 2019, and had to invent absurd reasons to avoid being humiliated at his own vote count.
All Farage can brag about this morning is beating a bloke with a bin on his head. What he should do is answer the serious outstanding questions about why he hid his £5m from the public.
Lee Anderson said Reform UK will “of course” cooperate with a parliamentary investigation into a £5m gift received by Nigel Farage.
The Reform MP said that “as far as I’m concerned, and Reform UK are concerned, that the slate is wiped clean now in Clacton”.
Asked whether they would cooperate with a probe by parliament’s standards watchdog, which is expected to resume as Farage returns to the Commons, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Of course we will. We’ll always cooperate with any procedure within parliament. That’s what we do.
“It’s not always a two-way thing in parliament. We’ve tried many, many times in parliament to be part of the democratic system. We’ve tried to get on select committees … the powers that be won’t allow us to do that.
“So you know, I know we’re only a small party, but we are a massive part of democracy in this country. We won’t shut up from the backbenches. We’ll carry on defending the rights of people in this country.”
John Curtice added that “the electoral world has changed in important ways since Nigel Farage precipitated the byelection”.
The professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde said:
In the immediate wake of the decision to call this byelection back on 7 July, support for Reform did noticeably fall in the national polls, from around just under 27% to about 24%, which is where it still is this morning.
Curtice told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme:
The political world, the electoral world, has changed in important ways since Nigel Farage precipitated the byelection.
Primarily, of course, because of the replacement of Keir Starmer by Andy Burnham. Labour have enjoyed a so-called Burnham bounce.
“Labour are currently narrowly ahead of Reform in the polls and, meanwhile, the Conservatives now find themselves four points adrift.
He said that Farage faces “quite a substantial political challenge” in trying to get Reform support back up so that it is “back in the lead in the polls, and that there is still clear blue water between Reform and the Conservatives”.
John Curtice said voters turned out in “numbers that are quite healthy by the standards of modern byelections” in Clacton.
The professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde said Nigel Farage did not do as well as David Davis, who won 72% of the vote in 2008, “in the one byelection that is most similar to this one”.
Curtice told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme:
The argument that was being used by Farage’s opponents is this was a stunt; it was a farce, as exemplified by the fact that Count Binface was seemingly his own serious candidate.
Reform will now be able to point out not only as a result of the high turnout, the number of votes that they’ve got, but that also that evidently at 44%, the turnout is 10 points above what happened in David Davis’s byelection.
It’s not much below what it was in either Runcorn or Gorton and Denton in the byelections there, and it was actually higher than the two parliamentary byelections in Scotland recently.
Therefore, I think they will be able to argue that, for the voters at least, it is not obvious that they regarded this as a stunt or a farce.
They did turn out in numbers that are quite healthy by the standards of modern byelections.
It’s “vital” that the parliamentary standards investigation into Nigel Farage’s £5m gift “resumes at pace”, says campaign group Best for Britain.
Commenting on Farage’s re-election in Clacton, Naomi Smith, chief executive of the group which campaigns to keep the radical right out of power, said:
Farage’s re-election is ultimately a net loss for the people of Clacton who are left with an MP who doesn’t care about their interests and holds a fundamental contempt for political transparency – while facing multiple financial sleaze allegations and inquiries.
It’s vital the parliamentary standards investigation into the £5m gift he accepted from a crypto billionaire now resumes at pace. No one must be beyond scrutiny, least of all those elected to serve the public, and voters rightly do not accept that an MP can escape consequences for behaviour which could see most UK workers hauled over the coals.
Bridget Phillipson said there was “no hiding place now” for Nigel Farage after the Clacton byelection concluded and he must “answer to the public”.
The Labour chair told Sky News:
Nigel Farage can set out to the public exactly what’s been going on in recent weeks and months, all of the sleaze and the scandal that Reform has been engulfed in, whether it’s the £5m dodgy gift or his connections to a convicted fraudster, these are just piling up.
There’s no hiding place now and Nigel Farage needs to answer to the public as to exactly what’s going on. And this distraction byelection, that’s out of the way now, so we can get on with it.
She added that police were “used to dealing with high-profile situations” but it was “hard to know” what had happened that meant Farage did not attend the count.
Asked about Reform UK’s contested claim that police had advised him not to go, she told Sky News:
Well, of course, the safety of politicians is of the utmost importance and no one should face threats or intimidation because of who they are and the job that they’re seeking to do.
I don’t know exactly what’s gone on here, but like you, I’ve heard what the police have had to say, that they’ve pushed back a bit on that suggestion, and I know that Nigel Farage is facing some criticism, even from within his own ranks, that he’s not, wasn’t, prepared to be at the count.
And, you know, those who are responsible for running counts and the police oversight of that, they’re used to dealing with high-profile situations. But, you know, I think people will come to their own conclusions.
It’s hard to know. Nigel Farage has given one version of events and we’ve heard something a bit different from the police responsible.
Lee Anderson said he had not spoken to Nigel Farage about the claim he had been advised not to attend the Clacton byelection count.
Asked about the claim that Essex police had advised him not to attend, which the Press Association understands is not the case, the Reform UK MP said “sometimes some of these police forces that we’ve been dealing with recently are about as honest as you lot at the BBC”.
He told BBC Breakfast:
I’ve not spoken to Nigel about this. I’ve not spoken to Essex police.
If Nigel gets up on stage and says that he’s been advised not to attend the event, then I believe Nigel above the police, and especially above you lot at the BBC.
Decision whether candidates attended election count 'for individuals and their security teams' - Essex police
Essex police said there were no “incidents or issues” regarding the Clacton byelection on Thursday or overnight, and the decision of whether candidates attend the election count is “for individuals and their security teams”.
Nigel Farage said he would not attend the official declaration of the result at Clacton Leisure Centre as Essex police had told him about an “organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result”.
A Reform UK spokesperson later said: “Essex police advised Nigel not to attend the count tonight due to a credible threat against him.”
However, a spokesperson for the force said:
We have a full and robust policing operation in place around the Clacton byelection, as we do with all significant elections in our county.
Throughout polling day our officers were visible right across Clacton and the Tendring district. We visited all 51 polling stations, our officers were out and visible on foot, in vehicles and our drone team patrolled by air.
Our aim was to ensure the people of Clacton were able to go about their daily business, that people were able to cast their vote safely and that the count took place without issue.
They added:
We are pleased to say all of these things happened and there were no incidents or issues throughout yesterday and into the early hours of this morning. We worked closely with Tendring District Council and their security teams throughout. We take the safety and security of our elected officials extremely seriously and, equally, we take our policing responsibilities around the democratic process seriously too.
The decision of candidates to attend or not attend the election count is a decision for individuals and their security teams, our role is to make sure our policing operation is sufficiently robust to ensure the safety of all, and we are grateful to all of our officers, staff and the staff at Tendring District Council who worked through the night to ensure the safety of all.
Richard Tice said Nigel Farage’s “team” judged there was “sufficient anxiety, concern and threats” amid the Clacton byelection.
Reform UK said overnight that police had told him not to attend the count due to a “credible threat” against him, which the Press Association understands is not the case.
Asked about the claim on GB News, deputy leader Tice said:
Well, as you can imagine, given everything that’s gone on in recent days and weeks, security is very paramount to all of us at Reform.
Ultimately, it was judged by Nigel’s team that there was sufficient anxiety, and concern, and threats, that meant that while of course he would love to have been at the count, ultimately his security counts for more than anything else, and I don’t think anybody, frankly, should in any way question his … team’s judgment on that.
Asked whether he could say anything more about information the party claims to have received that meant Farage did not want to be on stage, he said:
No, I can’t. But I think we should just trust those tasked with keeping Nigel safe and alive, I hesitate to say, but that’s what the task is.
And if a credible threat is perceived or a deep anxiety, whatever you want to term it, clearly they’re going to err on the side of caution, and that’s just the reality.
So, yes, of course, it’s a shame he would have loved to have been there, but security is paramount, and everybody knows we’ve had a very, very difficult few weeks and last couple of months.
Labour said the Clacton byelection was “no victory for Nigel Farage” and “shows he likely has so much to hide”.
Party chair Bridget Phillipson said:
Let’s be clear: this is no victory for Nigel Farage. 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.
This morning, Nigel Farage shouldn’t be celebrating – he should wake up and smell the coffee. He must come clean with the public and put all the facts on the table over his secret £5m gift, his relationship with a convicted fraudster, and the other scandals his party is drowning in.
Farage’s distraction byelection doesn’t clear his name – it just shows he likely has so much more to hide.
Nigel Farage said his win in the Clacton byelection “speaks for itself”.
In a one-line post on X, featuring a photograph of him taken at the overnight ‘Farage-Fest’ in his constituency, the Reform UK leader said:
The result in Clacton speaks for itself.
With Count Binface securing more than one in four votes, I’m not sure that’s the zinger Farage thinks it is …
The Liberal Democrats said Nigel Farage had come away from the Clacton byelection “looking daft”.
The party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson Lisa Smart said:
Like most people who win a fight against a bin, Farage has come away looking daft and smelling of yesterday’s chip paper.
Now that he’s heading back to Westminster, the investigation into his shady financial affairs and £5m ‘gift’ must crack on. Reform claims to fight for the people, but they answer to crypto-billionaires.
Triggering a vanity byelection was a blatant attempt to dodge being held to account. The Liberal Democrats have proposed a ‘Clacton clause’ to a Bill going through parliament that would stop a stunt like this being pulled ever again.
A sitting MP under investigation should never be able to weaponise a byelection into a taxpayer-funded attempt to escape scrutiny.
Count Binface says he's winner among candidates 'who bothered to turn up'
Count Binface has taken to social media to declare:
I came first in the Clacton byelection! Of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results.
The self-declared “entirely independent space warrior” who emerged as Farage’s strongest challenger – aka comedian Jon Harvey – also said in his “victory speech” posted on X:
Well a new dawn has broken, has it not? Literally, because it’s past 6.30 in the morning here in Clacton-on-Sea.
Citing the 9,455 votes he received at the poll, Binface said that just eight weeks ago in the Makerfield byelection he got 95.
That means I’ve got – against Nigel Farage – 10,000% more votes than I got against Andy Burnham. What does that tell you?
Well it tells you that Nigel, who said that he didn’t want to be humiliated, maybe has been. As for me, I’m over the moon – I’m over your moon, I’m over my moons – and what comes next, well we shall see.
But you know what, we know this for a fact: over one in four people in this constituency would rather have Count Binface as their MP than the leader of Reform UK. And I’m just getting started.
Updated
At 22,239 votes, Farage received 63.34% of the byelection vote. The 9,455 ballots for parody candidate Count Binface – his nearest competitor – was 26.93%.
Updated
There was little applause when Nigel Farage was announced the victor of the Clacton byelecion, with his supporters nowhere to be seen or heard in the counting hall.
The result came after a gruelling count where tellers had to grapple with incredibly long ballot papers past sunrise to tally tens of thousands of votes.
Aside from Farage, who snubbed the count, the remaining 33 candidates lined up – nearly filling the width of the room – when the results were finally announced.
The announcement of Count Binface’s 9,000-plus votes was greeted to moderate cheers and claps in the hall, though the mood remained resolutely low-energy.
The largest cheers were directed towards the Monster Raving Looning party, whose candidates double-digit vote counts were greeted with enthusiastic celebrations.
Count Binface faced a media scrum as he tried to leave the count and left out the back door.
Nigel Farage isn’t at the counting centre to give a traditional victory speech – he said earlier in the morning that he would not attend the count, claiming Essex police had advised him about a plot to embarrass him on stage during the result announcement.
Updated
Farage declared byelection winner
Nigel Farage has been declared winner of the byelection.
Ian Davidson, the acting returning officer, also said voter turnout had been 44.37%.
Updated
Nigel Farage has received 22,239 votes, the officer says, while Count Binface got 9,455.
The reading through the final tally for all 34 candidates is continuing.
Updated
The byelection’s acting returning officer is announcing the vote result in what he calls a “unique election” with a “unique ballot paper”.
The poll candidates look to have lined up as an announcement is getting under way at the vote counting centre.
This election is a novelty with a record 34 candidates, including Howling Laud Hope of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and Marcus White from the Everyone is God Party.
They have pounded the streets of Clacton over the past few weeks as they seek to win the support of about 80,000 voters.
Given the numbers who stood, Clacton residents were presented with a ballot paper about a metre (three feet) long.
Turnout was widely expected to be low as it often is in special elections. In the July 2024 general election, Farage faced eight rivals and garnered 21,225 votes, or 46.2% of the total. Turnout was 58.7%.
This election took place during the summer holidays with thousands of voters away from Clacton. It also took place during another UK heatwave, which could have seen many opt against making the trip to the polling station.
There’s been a call over loudspeaker for “candidates and agents” at the Clacton leisure centre in Essex and we could be nearing result time.
Count Binface looks to be among a group of people – some with costume hats – that have gathered in a corner of the room.
Updated
Nigel Farage’s byelection and the subsequent candidacy of Count Binface has transcended the usual news cycle of UK politics and made headlines around the world.
Binface recently went viral after an interview with a US journalist in which he was asked to put an answer into terms an American audience would be able to understand.
His quick-witted response is well worth a watch here.
The intergalactic space warrior, leader of the Recyclons from Sigma IX and part-time politician on Earth – played by comedian Jon Harvey – has also seen his campaign covered in recent days by Time magazine, the Washington Post and France 24.
And my colleague Daniel Boffey wrote a lengthy profile piece on Binface here, having spoken to those who know him:
It’s fair to say, despite his slim chances of causing an upset, the bin has captured the public imagination.
And, while Farage led polls in Clacton, a wider poll of the British electorate found Binface to be more popular in a head-to-head run-off against the Reform UK leader.
Perhaps something for the man who wants to become the prime minsiter to mull over when the giddy haze of his expected bylection victory subsides?
Farage snubs vote count for 'political Glastonbury'
Nigel Farage snubbed Clacton leisure centre, where the count was being held, for Farage Fest, a carnival-like event held in the rural fringes of the constituency.
GB News were in attendance and called it a “political Glastonbury in the middle of Essex”, so the Guardian attempted to pay a visit too.
After a 25-minute or so drive, in an airbase far away from the heart of Clacton-on-Sea, a lone guard sat in complete darkness beside a sign that read Farage Fest.
After managing to get through this initial security checkpoint and parking up, trudging through a dark country lane by foot was the next step. Soon, the festival came into full view, with a lit-up ferris wheel, festival tents and Farage himself at about 3.30am, visible through a gated fence.
But after reaching the entrance, undercover security guards intervened and said it was a ticketed event. They asked the Guardian to leave and trailed behind while leaving the premises.
Shortly after, Farage announced he wouldn’t be attending the count at all.
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Nigel Farage earlier declared a “resounding victory” in the byelection although votes were still being counted and no official result had been declared.
“The verdict is in and it is a convincing and overwhelming win,” he claimed to supporters at the Reform UK event in Essex broadcast on social media.
Updated
Here are some of the scenes at the Clacton Leisure Centre in Essex as the byelection with a record 34 candidates – and a near metre-long ballot paper – draws out the counting process.
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'Robust policing operation' in place at vote count, says official
The acting returning officer for the Clacton byelection, Ian Davidson, said he would not comment on security matters but that there was a “robust policing operation” in place.
Davidson, the chief executive of Tendring district council, told the count after Farage’s speech in Essex: “We work very closely with Essex police and have done so throughout this process, and continue to do so tonight, and we will be continuing the count, as we always do, in a safe and secure manner.”
In a later statement also cited by PA Media, Davidson said:
We have worked closely with Essex police colleagues to ensure the election process is completed safely and securely, as is evident from the level of security we have in place here today.
This includes a robust policing operation throughout the day and including at the count.
It is a candidate’s decision whether or not to attend the count.
However I want to reassure people we have no reason not to proceed with the count process at this time.
More comments here from Nigel Farage saying he will not attend the byelection result after being told by Essex police of an “organised campaign” to disrupt it.
“Once again it shows you the sheer intolerance, the sheer loss of fundamental democratic principles that those that went before us, fought in world wars, to fight for and preserve,” he said at a Farage Fest event in Essex, quoted by PA. He added:
I’m not scared of these people, far from it. But I’m damned if I’m going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory, a ringing endorsement of all that I’ve tried to fight for, and you’ve tried to fight for, and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies, and I will not sadly be attending the count.
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Farage says he will not attend vote count amid 'plot to embarrass him'
Nigel Farage has said he will not attend the Clacton byelection count after advice from Essex police about a plot to embarrass him on stage during the announcement of the result.
The Reform UK leader pre-empted the official announcement of the result of the byelection by telling supporters he had secured more votes than when he won the seat at the 2024 general election.
Farage called the result a “convincing, overwhelming win” that would surpass the 21,225 votes he received just two years ago, PA Media is reporting.
However, speaking at a “Farage Fest” event in Essex organised by Reform UK, he said he would not attend the traditional declaration of the results after being given notice of an “organised campaign” to “disrupt and degrade the result”.
Acting returning officer Ian Davidson said it was Farage’s decision “whether or not to attend the count”.
Opening: Farage expected to win 'desperate stunt' byelection with results due in coming hours
Hello and welcome to this special UK politics live blog, where we will be bringing you the result from Nigel Farage’s latest vanity parade. Sorry, I mean the 2026 Clacton byelection.
Thousands of residents in the Essex seat voted on Thursday in a ballot featuring Nigel Farage and a range of novelty and fringe candidates led by Count Binface, after all the main political parties (and Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain) decided against fielding candidates.
Farage resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelection in what he claimed was an attempt to address complaints over a deepening scandal about gifts he received.
However, leaders from across the political spectrum branded the Reform UK leader’s scheme a “desperate stunt” to avoid scrutiny.
Should he win the byelection – and polling suggested he was on course to see off main rival Count Binface – Farage is expected to face a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog, which was opened in May after the Guardian revealed he had received a £5m personal gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto billionaire, in April 2024.
Farage has denied the gift amounted to an inducement to run for office, insisting it was personal in nature. He has given a series of explanations for the gift, including that it was for his security and a reward for Brexit.
If parliament imposes sanctions for failing to declare the gifts, he may be removed from the House of Commons and face a second byelection.
But that is a discussion for another day – or, possibly, later this morning. As it is, stay with us and we will bring you the results (expected any time between 5am and 8am), as well as all the usual news and reaction as the day unfolds.
