NIGEL FARAGE WINS IN CLACTON AFTER SEVEN FAILED BIDS TO BE MP

Nigel Farage has been elected as an MP after seven failed bids to win a Commons seat.

The Reform UK leader won 21,225 votes in Clacton, Essex, roundly defeating his Tory rival Giles Watling, with a majority of 8,405. Mr Farage will now head to Parliament on his eight attempt.

Exit polls had been predicting the right-wingers would win an astonishing 13 seats, despite previous opinion polls suggesting they would win fewer than five. But the projected surge in their numbers has so far failed to emerge as Reform failed to pick up a series of seats it was predicted to win, including Barnsley North, Barnsley South and Hartlepool, which were won by Labour.

Tory defector Lee Anderson was elected as a Reform MP in Ashfield, and former Southampton FC chairman Rupert Lowe took Great Yarmouth from the Conservatives. Richard Tice, the Reform Chairman, was also elected in Boston and Skegness, ousting Tory Matt Warman.

Mr Farage said his party's performance in the General Election was "truly extraordinary", adding: "There is a massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it."

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He said: "It's four weeks and three days since I decided to come out of retirement and throw my hat in the ring. I think what Reform UK has achieved in just those few short weeks is truly extraordinary. Given we had no money, no branch structure, virtually nothing across the country, we're going to come second in hundreds of constituencies, how many seats we're going to win - I don't know.

"But to have done this in such a short space of time says something very fundamental is happening."

2024-07-05T02:37:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd