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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage arrives to cast his vote in the Clacton by-election in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex Alamy Stock Photo
Count Binface
Nigel Farage wins in Clacton but doesn't show up to count, claiming 'credible threat'
Essex police said they did not tell Farage not to attend the count.
NIGEL FARAGE HAS won the Clacton byelection amid contested claims he was told by police not to attend the election count due to a “credible threat” against him.
The Reform UK leader pre-empted the official declaration by telling supporters he had won “fairly convincingly” and the result on the hottest day of the year was an “overwhelming endorsement” of him.
However, he 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, the Press Association understands Essex Police did not tell Farage, or any other candidate, not to attend the count.
A spokesperson for Essex Police said: “We have a proportionate and robust policing operation to ensure the safety and security of all participants in the count.”
"I am damned if I am going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory... and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies," Nigel Farage says
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) August 14, 2026
With votes still to be counted he claims victory, but says he won't attend the Clacton declaration
Live: https://t.co/hDmX1IgUxU pic.twitter.com/UJc3eYdVT2
Farage won with 22,239 votes, with Count Binface in second place on 9,455 votes. Farage secured a 12,784 majority, 62.82% of the vote.
This is up from his 8,405 vote majority, 46.2%, when he won at the 2024 general election. The result was declared shortly after 6am.
Turnout was 44.37%, down by just over 14%.
A total of 32 of the record-34 candidates lost their deposit.
Farage told supporters at an all-night “Farage-fest” event organised by Reform in Essex he would not be attending the count: “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.”
Farage was due to make what was billed as a “major speech” in Clacton at 10.30am on Friday, but Reform cancelled it, saying he had “already commented on the expected result of the by-election”.
In his speech, Farage said, hours before the result was formally declared: “The verdict is now in, and it is a convincing, overwhelming win with more votes than we got in the general election of 2024.”
He added: “Today the voters in Clacton have stuck up two fingers to the entire political establishment.”
He earlier told GB News: “Look, this is an overwhelming endorsement of me. I have had enough of being judged by mainstream media, being called a criminal.
“Do you know, if I made one sin, if I haven’t filled in a piece of paper, I’ve broken no law, I’ve broken no tax law, I’ve taken no public money, I don’t even own a motorhome.”
Council acting returning officer and chief executive Ian Davidson said he did not know that Farage would not attend the count until the Reform UK leader announced it in his speech to his supporters.
“It is up to individual candidates’ wish to or do not wish to attend the count, but as far as we’re concerned we will be able to complete this count successfully and safely for all the candidates, my staff here and all the visitors,” Davidson said.
“I am not aware of what has been said, or what that threat is.”
Davidson said Essex Police had assigned an assistant chief constable as part of a “Gold Command” policing operation.
He said he did not believe there was any threat serious enough for the count to be called off, but that he could not comment further on security matters.
The byelection was triggered by Farage’s resignation over scrutiny of donations from cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne. Labour and the Conservatives said his victory would not draw a line under the controversy.
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