Nigel Farage wins Clacton by-election amid scrutiny over undeclared £5m donation

Nigel Farage, Leader of Britain's Reform UK party, speaks during a press conference in London, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)Reform UK has received £20 million in donations from cryptocurrency investors since the 2024 general election, according to reports.The Independent has found 60% of the funding for Nigel Farage’s party comes from wealthy individuals linked to digital currency.The largest set of donations – adding up to £15 million overall – came from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne.That’s the same businessman who gave Farage £5 million months before he was elected as the Clacton MP in the general election.Farage is now facing a parliamentary sleaze probe for failing to declare that gift in the register of MPs’ interests once he was in the Commons.The Reform leader insists it was a personal gift and so did not need to be declared.The Independent’s analysis of Electoral Commission data adds pressure to the party, already facing intense scrutiny over its finances. It found other donors like Ben Peter Delo, founder of cryptocurrency trading platform Bitmex, gave two £2m payments to Reform this year.The wife of US crypto investor John Rost, Maria Rost, also gave nine payments worth £125,000.Simon William Smith, a London-based bitcoin investor, donated £116,000 shortly before the election.The former of the Bitcoin derivatives trading firm A1X, Oscar Townsley, also gave the party £30,000 last year.The newspaper noted the Tories received £82,250 in donations from crypto investor and hedge fund manager Alan Eldad Howard.However, it did not spot any crypto donations for Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the Green Party in the Electoral Commission data.A Reform UK spokesman told HuffPost UK: “Reform takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations and always ensures that the Electoral Commission guidelines on donations, as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, are strictly followed, as has been the case with all donations.”Labour chair Bridget Phillipson tore into findings, especially after Farage triggered a new by-election in Clacton over the heightened attention his finances were getting.He was re-elected earlier this month after all major parties refused to stand a candidate, calling the contest a political “stunt”.Phillipson told The Independent: “Nigel Farage has spent the summer battling a bin in a desperate attempt to dodge scrutiny but people have a right to know what he’s hiding.“He secretly took a £5m ‘gift’ from a Thai-based crypto billionaire and then promised to cut taxes for the crypto industry.“Now it seems his party is awash with crypto cash. Farage is treating the public with contempt. With donations from a convicted fraudster and police probes into Reform’s donors and finances – it’s clear they think the rules are for other people.”Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.Related...Farage Misuses Christianity To 'Channel Anti-Muslim Feeling', Ex-Archbishop Of Canterbury ClaimsHalf Of Brits Think Farage Should Face A Second By-Election If Found To Have Broken Donation RulesNigel Farage Easily Wins Clacton By-Election – But Dodges Result Declaration

Britain's Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage arrives at a polling station in Walton on the Naze, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026 to cast his vote for the Clacton on Sea by-election.Half of Britons think Nigel Farage should face a second by-election if the Reform leader is found to have broken parliamentary rules, a poll has found.Farage was re-elected as the Clacton MP last week after he voluntarily stepped down to trigger what he described as “people versus the establishment” contest.The move came as the Reform leader faced heightened scrutiny over his finances, particularly a £5 million donation from a crypto-billionaire which he failed to declare to parliament when he became an MP in 2024.All other major parties refused to stand in the by-election, meaning his main contestant was comedy candidate Count Binface.Farage comfortably won back his Clacton seat with a majority of 8,500 though he dodge the vote count, claiming he wanted to avoid being “humiliated by nobodies”.However, his return to the Commons means the parliamentary watchdog has resumed its probe into the donations and political support he has failed to declare in the register of MPs’ interests.The standards commissioner could recommend Farage has to fight for his seat in another by-election if he is found guilty.Even so, more than a third (39%) of Brits told More in Common his by-election win was a good result for the Reform leader – compared to 15% who said it was not. The think tank also discovered 49% of Brits say the Clacton MP should be forced to fight for his seat again, compared to 34% who said he should not.Most Brits (54%) also said Farage is being treated like any other MP, amid Reform’s insistence that the investigation is “being used as a political tool”.UK director at More in Common, Luke Tryl, said: “If one of Farage’s aims in calling this by-election was to motivate supporters and project confidence, it seems to have proven quite successful: Britons tend to think that the result was a victory for Farage, and among Reform’s own voters four in five say that it was a good result for him. “Yet the public are less aligned with Farage’s hopes that winning the support of the people of Clacton might put the donations row to bed. If Farage is seen to have broken the rules, Britons tend to say he should face a second by-election. Beyond Reform’s own supporters, few think that this by-election lets him off the hook, or that he is being unfairly targeted.“So while it seems the public see Clacton as a victory for Reform, most don’t see it as a vindication of Farage’s position on the finance row.”Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.Related...Exclusive: Vodafone Reject Zia Yusuf's Demand They Stop Giving SIM Cards To Migrant CharityZia Yusuf Snubs Nigel Farage By Not Deleting X Post Calling Ben Wallace 'A Traitor To Britain'Nigel Farage Slaps Down Zia Yusuf For Calling Ex-Tory Defence Secretary 'A Traitor'

Reform won a contrived byelection, but scrutiny continues – while the party increasingly attacks the watchdogs and journalists asking awkward questionsNigel Farage didn’t attend the count of the byelection he forced upon Clacton. Instead, Reform UK’s leader celebrated his win with supporters at a “Farage Fest”, filmed by a friendly TV channel. For a politician who claims to speak for the people, it was telling that at his triumph he preferred an audience of believers.Mr Farage won because his toughest opponent on the campaign trail was a comedian in a jumpsuit with a bin on his head. That Count Binface nevertheless won 27% of the vote captured the absurdity of a contest the main parties had boycotted as a Faragist stunt. Reform UK’s leader wanted to turn scrutiny of his finances – notably an investigation into whether he failed to report a £5m gift from an overseas crypto billionaire – into a “fight” with the “establishment”. But the result determined who represents the Essex seat, not whether he broke parliamentary or electoral rules.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Nigel Farage leaves a polling station in Walton on the Naze after casting his vote in the Clacton by-election.Nigel Farage is heading back to parliament – and straight back into a political crisis.As expected, the Reform UK leader comfortably won Thursday’s Clacton by-election, increasing his majority from 8,500 in 2024 to more than 12,000.This was hardly surprising, given his nearest challenger was Count Binface after Labour, the Tories, Lib Dems and Greens refused to put candidates.The self-styled intergalactic space warrior managed to receive an astonishing 9,455 votes – his best ever by-election performance.He said: “What does that tell you? Well it tells you that Nigel, who said he didn’t want to be humiliated, maybe has been.”Nevertheless, it would be churlish to deny that Farage’s 63% vote share on a 44% turnout was still an impressive result.There can be no doubt about it, the vast majority of the people of Clacton love the Reform leader and are very happy for him to continue as their MP.His popularity in the constituency could well be put to the test again very soon, as no sooner had his re-election been confirmed than the parliamentary standards commissioner announced that his investigation into Farage was resuming.The probe was launched earlier this year into his failure to declare a £5 million gift from a Thailand-based crypto billionaire shortly before the general election.That ultimately led to Farage’s resignation as Clacton MP last month, claiming he was the victim of a “witch-hunt” and saying it was up to voters, not the Commons authorities, to decide his fate.Should the commissioner find him guilty, and he be suspended from parliament for more than 10 sitting days, a recall petition will take place which could lead to another by-election.But that is just one of many problems piling up in Farage’s bulging in-tray.Chief among them is what to do about Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesman, who on Tuesday earned a rare public rebuke from his leader after describing former Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace of being “a traitor to Britain”.His tirade against the former Scots Guard, who was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery in Northern Ireland, related to the Afghan resettlement schemes set up under the last Conservative government and supported by Reform at the time.Speaking to The Sun, Farage said Yusuf’s language had been “too strong”.“I shall give him a ticking off, don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll speak to him today, but it’s over the top.”But three days later, Yusuf’s offending comments are still on his X feed, as does a poll he set up asking whether Wallace should be “prosecuted for treason”.A senior Reform source told HuffPost UK: “Nigel is right to publicly say Zia overstepped the mark, and now I’ll judge how Zia behaves following it .“I hope he finally learns that being constantly angry and seeking confrontation distracts from what should be the focus – policy – which is what we need to get back to.”The source added: “You’ve got to assume that Zia either storms off or Farage will come under pressure to kick him out at some point.”The row also exposed splits within Reform, with political commentator Tim Montgomerie – who defected from the Tories in a blaze of publicity last year – describing Yusuf’s comments as “inappropriate and counter-productive”.“One of the biggest question marks over Nigel Farage’s leadership is whether he brings Zia under control,” he said.If Farage did tell Yusuf to cool it, he clearly did not get the memo as barely 24 hours later he was threatening to have Vodafone’s directors jailed for giving free mobile phone SIM cards to a charity which supports asylum seekers. In response, Vodafone said they would continue helping “vulnerable” people in the UK.Another fly in Farage’s ointment is the fact that after 18 months of leading the national opinion polls, they have been overtaken by Labour and, in one poll this week, the Conservatives too.A poll of polls showed that, since Andy Burnham replaced Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister, support for his party has gone up, while Reform’s slide in the polls continues.That trend has coincided with intense scrutiny of Reform’s finances, as well as Farage’s, putting the party on the back foot for the first time since the last general election.Farage did not fancy standing alongside Count Binface and the other by-election candidates.Farage’s normally sure political touch also seems to have deserted him in recent months, typified by his decision not to attend the by-election result declaration.He told supporters at an invite only “Farage-fest” victory party that Essex Police had warned had warned him of “an organised campaign to disrupt” the count by his opponents.However, this appeared to be contradicted by the force, with sources insisting they had not advised any of the 34 candidates that they should not attend the count.Reform chairman Lee Anderson then offered a different explanation for Farage’s absence.He said: “Nigel’s a great man of principle. We were at a great celebration through the night where we had hundreds and hundreds of campaigners, activists, members, politicians, MPs, councillors from all over the UK who turned out not just to campaign but to celebrate this great victory.“I think his time is better spent with the people who supported him. He said a massive thank you to them, he’s put on a great party for them. It was a great occasion, it’s only right that he spends that time with his members, with his activists, with his supporters.”Farage himself also appeared to give the game away by admitting he didn’t fancy standing shoulder to shoulder with Count Binface and the various other eccentric characters who also stood.“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,” he said.As HuffPost UK reported last week, pollsters agree that it is still far too early to begin writing off Farage or Reform.But his supporters will be hoping that Farage’s return to Westminster will see him grip the various problems facing his party, and redouble his efforts to get them back on track.Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.Related...Nigel Farage Easily Wins Clacton By-Election – But Dodges Result DeclarationReform UK Splits Burst Into Open Despite Nigel Farage's Clacton By-Election VictoryNigel Farage Slaps Down Zia Yusuf For Calling Ex-Tory Defence Secretary 'A Traitor'

Farage Crushes Clacton By-Election With 63% As Comedy Candidates Dominate Longest Ballot In British History Nigel Farage has romped to victory in the Clacton by-election with 63.3% of the vote, seeing off 33 rivals including Count Binface, who won a quarter of the votes cast, on the longest ballot paper in British electoral history. The Reform UK leader secured victory with 22,239 votes, which was 63.3% of the total vote and an increase on the 21,225 votes he secured when he was elected to the Essex seat at the 2024 General Election. Count Binface, a comedian standing as a 5,900-year-old space warrior whose key policy was to freeze the price of ice cream in Clacton at 99p, was second with 9,455 votes, 26.9% of the total vote. Mr Farage had triggered the poll and cast it as a ‘people vs the Establishment’ contest amid mounting questions over a £5 million donation from cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne. However, a parliamentary inquiry into Mr Harborne’s donation has yet to conclude, and Mr Farage could still face another by-election within months if he is found to have broken House of Commons rules. He is expected to be interviewed by a standards watchdog within weeks of MPs returning to Westminster after their summer break. The Reform leader, 62, declared himself the winner of the Clacton by-election in the early hours of Friday morning while ballot papers were still being counted. He then took the unprecedented step of skipping the formal result declaration, with his party claiming police had advised him to stay away due to a ‘credible threat’. But, as Mark Angelides reports for LibertyNation.com, none of the big parties fielding a contender, what remains is who wins the narrative war. Farage Stands Down to Step Up The election was triggered by Farage resigning his seat last month. He did so voluntarily because of mounting stories over his financial situation, including donations and gifts he had received before running for Parliament. His argument was that it should be the voters of Clacton who decide his political fate rather than a scrutiny committee. To be abundantly clear, Mr. Farage receiving a gift of £5 million is not illegal. Not declaring it is a breach of protocol because it occurred within 12 months of him running for office. With his return to the House of Commons, the internal investigation will continue. But what is the likely outcome? And what punishment – if any – is likely to befall the veteran campaigner? If he is found to have broken the rules, the committee could suspend him from the House for a short period. In such a case, there is a possibility of a recall petition that would trigger a fresh by-election – which poses a conundrum. The purpose of such a contest would be to determine whether his Clacton constituency still had faith in him to be its Member of Parliament. This question was put to bed yesterday with Farage increasing his vote count and share compared with the 2024 general election. And crucially, Nigel will have spent the last six weeks in his constituency gathering data. If he ends up having to fight yet another election, he will have up-to-date major information which other parties do not have access to. When it comes to campaigning, the data advantage cannot be underestimated. But, as ever, the knives are out for Nigel Farage. Establishment Closes Ranks Former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, before his ousting, described Farage’s Reform Party as a threat to the nation. This is echoed across the myriad parties that make up British Parliament. In other recent by-elections, we have seen parties run what can best be described as paper candidates to unite around any party other than Reform. The dominant narrative from the more established party leaders is that although they refused to stand a candidate in this “stunt” election triggered by Farage, they would certainly stand one in the potential next contest after the results of the scrutiny committee are released. But it is more than reasonable to argue that the other parties did engage in yesterday’s election. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch posted on social media that voters should support “the Bin,” a reference to a parody candidate, “Count Binface,” who wears a trashcan on his head and a shiny “spacesuit.” By tacitly backing any competitor – even a joke contender – the party essentially threw its hat in the ring. Notably, Count Binface came second with almost 27%. A Political Parallel The current mantra is that Nigel Farage has triggered an unnecessary election that has cost taxpayers roughly £250,000 and was an affront to voters. And yet the same voices uttered no such displeasure when now-PM Andy Burnham was the beneficiary of a palace coup through a similar mechanism earlier this year. With around 24,000 votes from one of the Labour Party’s safest seats, Mr. Burnham was drafted into Parliament and installed as leader and PM without a general election or even a vote by the party members. For those who do not support Labour, there is the mild stench of hypocrisy. Both politicians foisted a by-election on the British public to better secure their positions. One did so to retain his position, the other to gain advancement. Where is Reform Now? Mr. Farage’s Reform Party has dominated polling for the last 18 months. While Mr. Burnham’s Labour Party has received a polling bounce of around 6% – quite a typical bump when a leader is changed mid-Parliament – almost every survey has suggested Reform would be the largest party at the next general election. Farage is a threat to the Westminster establishment that has not been seen in at least 100 years. Assuming he navigates the committee's results and commits no major faux pas in the next three years, he may well be Prime Minister. And more so, he may be the harbinger of doom for the Conservative Party and relegate Labour to a desultory second-place finish. It seems no wonder that the Westminster establishment wants to end his career as early as possible. Tyler Durden Fri, 08/14/2026 - 08:45

Farage leaving a polling station in Clacton after casting his vote yesterday (Picture: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock) Nigel Farage has been comfortably re-elected as Clacton’s MP, coming out on top of a record-breaking field of 34 novelty and fringe candidates. Polls in the run-up to Thursday’s by-election had predicted the Reform leader would get almost three-quarters of votes, but the final figure was 63.3%. Count Binface, meanwhile, secured 26.9%, making him by a wide margin the best-performing novelty candidate in modern British political history. The result means Farage immediately returns as an MP, and will represent Clacton in the House of Commons when it returns from summer recess next month. @alrightgov It was a muted response to the @reformparty_uk leader’s declaration #UKNews #UKPolitics #Farage #Clacton #Reform ♬ original sound – Alright, Gov? – Alright, Gov? Will the Nigel Farage investigation restart? Make sense of the mad world of British politics Get analysis of the latest stories – including this week's Clacton by-election – direct to your inbox from Metro’s Senior Politics Reporter Craig Munro. Sign up here. However, even before Farage walks back through the doors of the Palace of Westminster, the investigation into his declarations by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner will start again. Daniel Greenberg is looking into whether Farage should have disclosed a £5 million ‘gift’ he received ahead of the 2024 general election from a British crypto billionaire based in Thailand. The commissioner is not deciding whether he should or should not have accepted the money, only whether he broke the rules by not formally declaring it as a donation linked to his political activities. Nevertheless, the focus on that £5 million – many times more money than most of his constituents would make across their entire lifetime – is uncomfortable for Farage. Then there are the questions over support allegedly provided to Reform by the convicted fraudster George Cottrell, nicknamed Posh George. According to the Sunday Times, the 32-year-old aristocrat supplied security and social media staff for Farage which were also not declared. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page Farage openly acknowledged that he decided to force the by-election because of these stories, arguing the people of Clacton should be the ultimate judge of whether he has done anything wrong. But the now-restarted investigation could mean they get another opportunity soon. If Greenberg finds that there was a breach of the rules, a fairly convoluted series of events begins. How many votes did Nigel Farage get? Nigel Farage received 22,239 votes in the Clacton by-election, which was a 63.3% share of the total number of votes. His closest opponent was Count Binface, who received 9,455 votes and a vote share of 23.93%. No other candidates got more than 500 votes. All 32 remaining lost their deposits for failing to get above a vote share of 5%. At the general election, Farage won 21,225 votes, meaning he won more in the by-election despite fewer voters overall taking part. He will send a report to the Commons select committee on standards, which will decide the punishment. If that punishment involves Farage being suspended from the House of Commons for 10 sitting days, a recall petition is triggered. If at least 10% of voters in Clacton sign the recall petition, Farage loses his seat and another by-election takes place. The Reform leader would be free to stand in that new by-election, and it’s likely the main parties that sat out Clacton would decide to stand a candidate too. What has Nigel Farage promised for Clacton and what has he done so far? When Farage first ran for the seat in summer 2024, his campaign heavily leaned on his national profile and policies such as tackling immigration. It was a similar story for this week’s by-election. Asked by Metro to set out the things he would do if he was re-elected, he set out Reform’s policies on illegal immigration, taxes and ‘dodgy’ businesses. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page He has faced questions over the amount of time he spends in his Clacton constituency, and he reportedly does not hold in-person surgeries where local residents can raise issues due to safety concerns. His spokesperson has previously said he holds surgeries online. In a campaign video published last week, Farage said he had donated to local causes and led a Remembrance Day parade in Walton-on-the-Naze. He also said he had done ‘everything I can to help and promote’ furniture store Codgers after it was destroyed in a fire, adding he has also promoted Clacton as a ‘place to come and visit’. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source