Nigel Farage will face the voters of Clacton on 13 August after triggering a by-election by quitting as MP – then immediately announcing he intends to stand again. The Reform UK leader's decision to resign and fight his own seat has been dismissed as a stunt by the other main Westminster parties, who are boycotting the contest. That leaves comedy candidate Count Binface as the highest-profile opponent, alongside actor and activist Laurence Fox and several local residents.
Reform UK had pushed for the vote to be held on 6 August, but Tendring District Council received the writ on Friday and set the date a week later. Acting returning officer Ian Davidson said: "The electoral timetable is set out by law and so we are bound by these dates." He urged residents to register by 28 July and to check they have valid voter ID, warning: "We want to make sure that everyone is still able to cast their vote next month." Nominations open on Monday and close on 17 July.
“Nigel Farage's Clacton by-election will be held on 13 August after he quit as MP to stand again.”
The by-election is the latest twist in Clacton's electoral history, a constituency that sent the UK's first Ukip MP to Westminster in a 2014 by-election and remained solidly Conservative until 2025. One former Labour candidate, who stood in the 2025 general election after being selected months earlier, described finding a constituency frustrated with broken public services. On the doorstep, he heard "not round here mate" and "I used to vote Labour but…" He met a middle-aged mum in Great Bentley who said of the country: "It just doesn't work, so there's no point voting."
The candidate contrasted his own months of door-knocking with Farage's helicopter entry when Rishi Sunak called the election. He concluded that the Reform leader had "no interest in serving his 'people'." Now Farage must convince those same voters to back him again – or risk becoming one of the shortest-serving MPs in recent history.