The Beginning of the End for Nigel Farage

Clacton byelection polls open with Farage up against slew of fringe candidates

 

Clacton byelection polls open with Farage up against slew of fringe candidates

 

Longest ballot in UK voting history features likes of Count Binface and Howling Laud Hope alongside Reform leader

 

Alexandra Topping Political correspondent

Thu 13 Aug 2026 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/13/clacton-byelection-polls-open

 

Polls have opened in Clacton, with thousands of residents in the Essex seat to vote in a ballot featuring Nigel Farage and a range of novelty and fringe candidates led by Count Binface.

 

The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelection in an attempt to address complaints over a deepening scandal about gifts he received.

 

He is expected to face a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog, which was opened in May after the Guardian revealed he had received a £5m personal gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto billionaire, in April 2024.

 

Farage has denied the gift amounted to an inducement to run for office, insisting it was personal in nature. He has given a series of explanations for the gift, including that it was for his security and a reward for Brexit.

 

The inquiry will look into allegations Farage was financially supported by the crypto gambler and convicted fraudster George Cottrell, a close friend, after the Sunday Times reported that Cottrell’s support included security and social media staff who worked on Farage’s online content in the year before he was elected.

 

Reform UK claimed that was a “baseless and contrived story” and that no parliamentary rules had been broken.

 

The inquiry, which was suspended on 8 July after Farage’s decision to force a byelection, could restart as soon as Friday if he is re-elected.

 

If parliament imposes sanctions for failing to declare the gifts, he may be removed from the House of Commons and face a second byelection.

 

All of the main parties have boycotted the byelection, announcing they would not stand candidates for a “media circus” and a “vanity project”. Instead, Count Binface, the self-declared “entirely independent space warrior” created by the comedian Jon Harvey, stepped into the void.

 

A record number of candidates are seeking election, presenting voters with the longest ballot paper in British electoral history.

 

Among the 34 candidates on the ballot paper are independents, the actor and rightwing political activist Laurence Fox and three figures from the Monster Raving Loony party: Howling Laud Hope, Baron Von Thunderclap and Nick the Incredible Flying Brick.

 

As well as the town of Clacton-on-Sea, the constituency comprises rural villages, farmland and several seaside towns and villages including Frinton, Walton-on-the-Naze and Jaywick, which last year was named the most deprived neighbourhood in England for the fourth consecutive time since 2010.

 

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, the population of Clacton is older than the average in England. A third of working-age people are economically inactive, compared with fewer than one in five in the east of England. Seventy per cent of Clacton residents who voted in the 2016 Brexit referendum favoured leave.

 

After standing in multiple British elections since 1994, Farage was elected to the Commons as the member for Clacton in 2024. He won the seat with a majority of 8,400, taking 46.2% of the vote. The Conservatives came second and Labour third.

 

The previous record for the largest number of candidates in a constituency election was held by the Haltemprice and Howden byelection in East Yorkshire in July 2008, which featured 26 candidates. It took place after David Davis resigned his seat and stood again as a protest over the issue of civil liberties.

 

The result may be seen as a benchmark to measure Farage’s relative success in this byelection. Davis won 72% of the vote in the election – which Labour and the Lib Dems did not contest – up from 47.5% at the 2005 general election, with a majority of 15,355.

 

Farage’s critics argue that his standing as a contender to be the next prime minister has taken a serious hit as a result of the byelection, with much of the Reform leader’s time and energy spent in the Essex constituency.

 

Last summer Farage was able to dominate the news agenda while the leaders of other main parties took summer holidays, helming seven press conferences in six weeks.

 

This year he held his first press briefing on 3 August, his first national press conference since May. He has not appeared keen to debate with Binface or the other 32 candidates.

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Whatever Happened to English Summers? Scorched Britons Would Like to Know.

 

Whatever Happened to English Summers? Scorched Britons Would Like to Know.

 

With forecasters issuing a warning for very high temperatures, this summer is on track to be one of the hottest yet.

 

Lynsey Chutel

By Lynsey Chutel

Reporting from a hot and dry London

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/world/europe/britain-heat-records.html

Aug. 13, 2026

Updated 2:39 a.m. ET

 

As Britons swelter under yet another heat wave, forecasters are warning that a brutal summer is on course to become the hottest yet.

 

The Met Office, Britain’s weather agency, issued an amber warning — the second highest level — for Thursday in large parts of southeast England.

 

The extreme heat has remade summer for a country where many once escaped abroad to feel the blazing sun on their skins.

 

“An English summer is not the same anymore,” said Jacqui Browne, 67, as she sat on the brown grass of a London park.

 

On Thursday, temperatures in London are expected to reach 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a forecast by the Met Office.

 

There was a time when British summers were more temperate and marked by rain, but drought conditions have left large parts of the country parched.

 

The north, for example, is not as cool or green as usual, said Ms. Browne’s sister Janice Kennedy, 66, who was visiting from there.

 

“Even up north it’s quite warm,” Ms. Kennedy said. “Not like down here, but it’s quite warm up there, as well.”

 

Some, like Ms. Browne and Ms. Kennedy, still remember the summer of 1976, when repeated long spells of hot and dry weather made it the benchmark for hot summers. Now, that seems almost quaint.

 

The summer of 2022 stands out in memory for its intensity. It was then that Britain recorded a temperature above 40 degrees Celsius for the first time, according to the Met Office.

 

“Now it’s been overshadowed by the last three or four years,” Ms. Browne said.

 

By the end of this past July, Britain had already recorded 37 days of extreme heat, nearing a record set in 1995, when 39 days were recorded, according to figures from the weather agency.

 

Even if the last weeks of August are slightly cooler, the weather is still likely to break existing records, according to Met Office predictions.

 

“Another record-breaking summer now looks increasingly likely for the U.K., following the second-warmest June and second-warmest July on record, and yet another heat wave imminent,” Mike Kendon, the Met Office’s senior scientist, said in a statement this week.

 

“These statistics are a clear reminder  — if one were needed  — of the stark changes that we are seeing in the U.K.’s climate,” Mr. Kendon said.

 

The heat has persuaded some to rethink how they spend their summers.

 

“I think you might find that is a real win for coastal towns,” Mike Jones, 55, said as he and friends cooled off in a London park. “I think there’ll be more staycations, too.”

 

His friend Caroline John noted a downside.

 

“When you go abroad, you have a cocktail and the sea,” she said. “Whereas, in London, you’re on the tube in the heat.”

 

The sweltering subway system is just one example of a region not built for heat, both agreed. Train lines have buckled in the heat, causing many delays over the summer.

 

“We’re not equipped, are we?” Ms. John, 50, said.

 

Britain’s weather agency warned that Thursday’s temperatures could affect heat-sensitive infrastructure in homes and businesses. And delays on the road and rail were expected, with potential health and welfare concerns for those stuck on the road.

 

The high temperatures could also lead to health complications for some, especially older people and those with vulnerabilities.

 

But for Anesta Logan, 61, who was in the park with Mr. Jones and Ms. John, the new British summer is an improvement over the cool ones she grew up with, to say nothing of the freezing winters.

 

“The hotter, the better,” she said. “People are always going to complain.”

 

Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

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