The people of Clacton have spoken. Well, 44% of them have, with the majority of eligible voters staying at home rather than cast their ballot in the byelection. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the winning candidate, also stayed away – snubbing the count at Clacton leisure centre after claiming police had warned him of an organised campaign to disrupt proceedings.
In the end, Farage received 63% of the vote, amounting to an endorsement from only 28% of the eligible electorate. That his second-place rival was a joke candidate standing as an “independent space warrior” wearing a bin-shaped helmet would seem to bear out the Daily Mail’s observation that “when voters are shouting at you, it’s bad. When they’re laughing at you, it’s over”. Count Binface received 9,455 votes – one in four of those cast.
