Reform leader Nigel Farage becomes an MP on the eighth time of trying
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Leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, has become an MP in Clacton, with more than 21,000 votes.
It is the eighth attempt of the controversial Brexit campaigner to become an MP, having failed on each previous one.
But taking over as the leader of Reform in June seems to have done the job, and got him a foothold in Parliament.
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Winning the seat in the seaside town of Clacton, in the county of Essex, is no small victory.
The Tories had established a stronghold in Clacton in 2017, after winning it over from Ukip.
‘This, folks, is huge,’ Farage responded to the earlier forecast in a video posted on X after midnight.
‘It is midnight, there are two results in from the north-east of England that put Reform on 30% of the vote, that is way more than any possible prediction or projection. It is almost unbelievable.
‘And what does it mean? It means we’re going to win seats, many many seats I think right now across the country.’
His party is expected to win 13 seats in the General Election – after campaigning on right-wing policies like a freeze on ‘non-essential’ immigration and leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
Farage’s electoral agent Peter Harris has said the leader is ‘up for the challenge’ of facing up to a Labour government.
Harris, a Reform UK councillor, said: ‘We were always hoping for multiple seats, 13 – I would like even more than that, really.
‘So I think we wait and see once all the votes are counted we’ll see how many we have actually got, but yeah, hugely exciting.
‘Obviously, I’m completely focused on Clacton and our candidate here, Farage, we are extremely confident that he is going to be one of those 13 seats that gets elected to Westminster.’
The populist party appears to have been eating into the Conservatives’ vote. With 13 elected representatives forecast, it is higher than predictions by most polls.
The party came second in Houghton and Sunderland South, beating the Tories into third place.
Candidate Sam Woods-Brass received 11,668 votes to Conservative candidate Chris Burnicle’s 5,514.
On Farage’s potential impact in Westminster, Harris said: ‘He stood alone in the European Parliament, and he got the changes that he wanted and as he said to the European Parliament that when he first got there, they laughed at him and then when we left he said “well, you’re not laughing now”.
‘So you know, I can see Nigel will be a huge voice not just for Clacton but a huge voice for so many people in this country that have felt abandoned and betrayed. So, yeah, I think Nigel is up for the challenge.’
The leader said he is playing the long game, with his sights set on the next scheduled election in five years’ time.
The 60-yar-old said: ‘This is our first significant step towards a much longer-term goal, which is aiming at 2029, but also is aiming at building a mass movement for common sense across the country.’
He had earlier declined to say what number of MPs they would classify as a win.
It had been said that Reform’s wide but thin support would not help their success in a first-past-the-post system and the leader has been vocal about the need for changes to the electoral system.
This is a developing news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
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