Clacton byelection: Farage beats Count Binface but skips result announcement – UK politics live

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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%.

Key events

• 33m ago

  Count Binface says he's winner among candidates 'who bothered to turn up'

• 1h ago

  Farage declared byelection winner

• 2h ago

  Farage snubs vote count for 'political Glastonbury'

• 3h ago

  'Robust policing operation' in place at vote count, says official

• 3h ago

  Farage says he will not attend vote count amid 'plot to embarrass him'

• 3h ago

  Opening: Farage expected to win 'desperate stunt' byelection with results due in coming hours

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:

double quotation markThe 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:

double quotation markLike 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:

double quotation markI 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:

double quotation markWell 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.

double quotation markThat 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.

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%.

Sammy Gecsoyler

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.

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%.

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.

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.