The by-election in Clacton triggered by Nigel Farage’s decision to quit as an MP and fight to reclaim his seat will be held on 13 August, with the contest boycotted by the other main Westminster parties – leaving comedy candidate Count Binface as the highest-profile opponent for the Reform UK leader.
Farage, who was helicoptered into the constituency at the moment Rishi Sunak called the general election, had initially hoped the vote would be held on 6 August. But Tendring District Council received the writ on Friday and announced the date would be a week later, citing the legal electoral timetable. “If residents want to have their democratic say then they must be registered,” said acting returning officer Ian Davidson, urging voters to check they have valid ID or apply for a Voter Authority Certificate. Nominations open on Monday, with a deadline of 17 July; residents not on the electoral register have until 28 July to apply.
“Clacton by-election on 13 August: Farage faces Count Binface as main parties boycott”
The decision by Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to boycott the by-election – they view Farage’s resignation as a stunt – leaves a field that includes the actor and political activist Laurence Fox and some local residents. But the Labour candidate who stood against Farage in the 2025 general election described a very different reality on the ground. “Not many people thought we could actually win in Clacton,” they wrote in a first-person account. “On the doorstep we kept hearing ‘not round here mate’, and the familiar ‘I used to vote Labour but …’.” Having been selected months earlier, they spent time getting to know the constituency – meeting people worried about elderly social care, pensioners isolated by unreliable bus services, veterans priced out of London, and publicans who barely turned a profit on a pint. A middle-aged mother in Great Bentley told them: “It [the country] just doesn’t work, so there’s no point voting.”
Farage’s opponents have questioned his commitment to the seat he won in July 2025. The Labour candidate who stood against him said: “Unlike Nigel Farage, who was helicoptered in … I’d been selected some months earlier. That gave me time to get to know the constituency better. I made it my mission to reach as many people in the community as I could.”
With the main parties absent, the 13 August contest will test whether Farage can convince the voters of Clacton that he is there for them – or whether his decision to force a by-election is seen as the stunt his rivals claim.
