People in the Essex constituency of Clacton voted in a by-election yesterday, brought on by the resignation of sitting MP Nigel Farage. They returned Mr. Farage to Westminster with a substantial majority. Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens and the Tories all declined to have a candidate stand against him as they felt the entire exercise was a stunt. As a result, he secured 22,239 votes (63% of the vote) to 9,455 to the second place Count Binface. Mr. Farage can claim this was a major win, but the fact that almost 10,000 voted for a joke candidate instead of the leader of Reform UK says it all.
The by-election happened because Mr. Farage resigned from Parliament just as an investigation into his finances was getting interesting. Christopher Harbone, a crypto-currency billionaire who lives in Thailand, gave Mr.Farage 5 million quid. The Reform leader has had a couple of explanations for this largesse. At one point, it was a reward for getting the Brexit referendum passed (Mr. Farage was the face of the Leave campaign). Another time, it was to pay for security. Whatever it was for, Mr. Farage did not declare it to the parliamentary watchdogs who look out for bribes and things that only look like bribes. So, they started to investigate.
Mr. Farage resigned as the investigation was gathering steam, and that halted the investigation. Now that the voters in the by-election have sent him back to Westminster, that investigation is on again. So, what was the entire point of this kabuki theatre?
“The people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” he said in his resignation speech in July. “This will be a people-versus-the-establishment by-election.”
Yesterday, he added, “Today, the voters in Clacton have stuck two fingers up to the entire political establishment.”
The people of Clacton are not, in fact, the judges. Perhaps, they are the jury. If the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards decides that the 5 million pounds should have been disclosed, he can suspend Mr. Farage from the House of Commons. If the suspension is 10 days or longer, a recall petition goes into circulation. Should 10% of the registered voters of the constituency sign it, there will be a second by-election in Clacton. The BBC stated that there are 79,785 registered voters in Clacton, so 7,979 signatures would be needed.
Mr. Farage is far from home and dry. His hope was that the by-election would return him to the House while convincing voters in Clacton that this is all much ado about nothing. Yet 9,455 voters cast a ballot for Count Binface. They took the time to go to the polls or secure a postal ballot, and they opted for a joke instead of Reform. If they all sign the recall petition (if there is one), the second by-election will happen.
If there is another go-round in the constituency, the other parties are almost certain to stand against Mr. Farage. They proved their point that this latest election was a stunt. Next time, it will not be a stunt; it will be the result of an investigation into Mr. Farage that suggests he is corrupt. But will all of them put up a candidate?
There is a good argument for Labour to stand against Mr. Farage in a second by-election while the LibDems and Greens sit things out. Splitting the anti-Reform vote helps Mr. Farage because the UK uses the first-past-the-post system for electing MPs. Beating Mr. Farage in a constituency that leans Reform and Conservative is easier if the vote on the left is unified. The Tories could do him more harm by fighting the second by-election as that could split the right-wing vote. If Mr. Farage is defeated, Reform may well be stalled for a long time.
This journal stands by its endorsement of Count Binface.