Nigel Farage elected as Clacton MP, winning a seat on eighth attempt

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Nigel Farage has been elected as the MP for Clacton, finally succeeding in getting a seat in parliament at his eighth attempt.

The Reform UK leader's victory came on a night when the hardline rightwing party surged in support elsewhere, winning four seats by 4am on Friday, with the former Conservative deputy chair Lee Anderson successfully defending his seat in Ashfield.

Richard Tice, Reform's chair and the man who stepped aside so Farage could return, won Lincolnshire constituency of Boston and Skegness, calling it "the proudest day of my life". The former Southampton Football Club chair Rupert Lowe also won a seat in Great Yarmouth, which has been held by the Conservatives since 2010.


Farage defeated the Conservative candidate, Giles Watling, who had represented the coastal constituency in Essex since 2017, winning 21,225 votes – a majority of 8,405.

In a speech after winning more than 20,000 votes, well ahead of Watling's 12,820, Farage served notice that his party would be turning its guns on Labour.

"We are coming for Labour ... be in no doubt about that," he said, in a short speech at a leisure centre in the seaside town.

Farage told reporters after his election that he would "speak up" and provide a challenge in government. As to what Tory MPs should do, he said those who were part of the "one nation" tradition should stay where they were while others should look to Reform and "join the team".

"They are so split down the middle. They spent the last four years fighting each other so god knows what they will be like now," he said.


Clacton had been regarded as Reform UK's best hope of taking a seat. It previously had been the only constituency to return a Ukip MP in a general election when it was won in 2015 by Douglas Carswell, who had successfully retained it during a byelection the previous year after defecting from the Tories.

Earlier, Ashfield described his constituency of Ashfield as "the capital of common sense" in a victory speech after polling 17,062 votes, beating Labour on 11,553. Anderson's old party was beaten into fourth place by an independent candidate.

In his acceptance speech after winning a 1,425 majority over Labour, Lowe said a "flood of change was coming over Britain's political system".

"I'm intent on ensuring we end up with more common sense in government; that we put the British people first," he added. "I'm committed to bring about change in Westminster and thereby bring about change in Great Yarmouth."


Reform had been projected to win as many as 13 seats in the general election, according to the 10pm exit poll. Declarations in north-east England showed it outpolling the Conservatives to come second to Labour. But early results for target seats Barnsley North and Barnsley South showed Reform coming second. After Farage's victory, expectations had been tempered and Reform believed they would win about four seats.

Ahead of his election, Farage had used a video posted on X to deliver his first response to the exit poll, saying: "It's midnight, there are two results in from the north-east of England that put Reform on 30% of the vote; that is way more than any possible prediction or projection. It is almost unbelievable.

Early declarations underlined the surge in support for the party in what had been strong Brexit-supporting areas of north-east England, where Reform outpolled the Tories in a number of seats.

While Farage has always kept his cards close to his chest about how many seats he expected to win, the projected seat share is believed to be much higher than what he could have hoped for.


Farage's agent, Peter Harris, told the Guardian that it was early days but the party appeared to be in a strong position. "We could see that there was a strong turnout. In places like Jaywick, the queues were long, and had people in there who had not voted before or had given up on voting until now," he said.

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Origin;
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/05/nigel-farage-elected-as-clacton-mp-winning-a-seat-on-eighth-attempt