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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Alamy
£5 million donation
Investigation into Nigel Farage resumes as he regains seat in byelection he triggered himself
The Reform UK leader secured 22,239 votes in the contest, which was boycotted by all major political parties.
LAST UPDATE | 14 Aug
THE PARLIAMENTARY INVESTIGATION into a £5 million (€5.85 million) gift received by Nigel Farage has resumed now that he has won re-election.
Farage won the Clacton byelection earlier today 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 secured 22,239 votes in the contest, which was boycotted by all major political parties.
When Farage resigned as an MP last month, triggering a byelection, the investigation over an alleged failure to declare the £5 million gift was temporarily paused.
As of today, the UK’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards’ website says that the probe has now restarted after it was opened on 13 May.
Previously, the website said it had been suspended amid the Clacton byelection. The resumption is automatic now that Farage is returning to the Commons after winning the vote.
Labour, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats said his victory would not draw a line under the controversy over the money he received from Thai-based Reform donor Christopher Harborne before he was first elected to the Essex seat in 2024.
Under Commons rules, new MPs are required to register any gifts worth more than £300 (€350) they received in the previous 12 months, except where it “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.
Farage has said the gift was not political and insisted he has done nothing wrong.
Beating Binface
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.
Farage won with 22,239 votes, with Count Binface in second place on 9,455 votes. Farage secured a 12,784 majority, 62.8% 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 44.44%, down by just over 14%.
A total of 32 of the record-34 candidates lost their deposit.
Count Binface, a comedian candidate, said: “I came first in the Clacton byelection! Of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results.”
Farage triggered the byelection himself when he made the surprise move to step down as the town’s MP. That came in light of scrutiny over a donation he received from a Thai-based cryptocurrency investor, which Farage did not declare as a gift when he first took his seat in 2024.
The UK’s main parties all boycotted the campaign and did not run candidates.
The fact that Farage was no longer an MP meant that a parliamentary probe into the undeclared gift was suspended. It has now been reopened.
‘Credible threat’ claim
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.”
Farage himself repeated the claim that police advised him of a “credible threat”.
However, the BBC and Sky News have both reported that Essex Police did not advise Farage not to attend the count.
In a statement this morning, a police spokesperson said: “We have a full and robust policing operation in place around the Clacton by-election, 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.
“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.”
They added: “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.”
Facing questions about the party’s claim today, Reform chief whip Lee Anderson said Farage had not attended the count at Clacton Leisure Centre because he had been told of “some planned disruption”.
Anderson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Well he was told, and he said this in his speech earlier about five hours ago, that there was some planned disruption amongst I think it was some of the other candidates. I think that was the case.”
I came first in the Clacton by-election! Of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results. Here is my victory speech! pic.twitter.com/PBaLO10P2j
— Count Binface (@CountBinface) August 14, 2026
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.
"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-fest’
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.”
Nigel Farage has won the Clacton by-election with a majority of 12,784, over Count Binface who came second.
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 14, 2026
Lee Anderson, chair of Reform UK, was asked on #BBCBreakfast about a claim from Nigel Farage that Essex Police had advised him not to attend the declaration because of an… pic.twitter.com/boeid0cX8K
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.”
With reporting from David Mac Redmond & Ottoline Spearman
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