Clacton
Nigel Farage leaves Parliament - to hold a by-election in the same seat
Reform UK Party Ltd:
Nigel Paul Farage is one of the three Directors of Reform UK Party Ltd, a private company limited by guarantee without share capital - see Companies House. As a company, Reform is controlled by its Directors.
Reform is also registered with the Electoral Commission as a political party - View registration. Its Leader is Nigel Farage. Party conferences are held and one is planned for Birmingham (3 - 5 September 2026) - Reform UK Conference
Political activity:
At the 2024 General Election, Nigel Farage was elected as Member of Parliament for Clacton - Election result for Clacton (Constituency). He had a comfortable win (21,225 votes) with the Conservative candidate coming second (12,820 votes) and Labour third (7,448 votes). There were six other candidates.
As a party, Reform won five seats at the 2024 election (with 14.3% of the vote). At the time of writing, the Party holds eight seats.
Farage is now 62 years of age and has spent much of his adult life engaged in politics:
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2020
Leader UK Independence Party (UKIP) - 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016
2018 he formed the Brexit Party which was renamed Reform in 2021.
The 2014 European Parliament elections resulted in UKIP gaining 24 of the UK’s seats compared to Labour’s 20 and the Conservative Party’s 19 - Vote 2014 Election Results for the EU Parliament UK regions. This was a factor in Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to set up the 2016 Brexit referendum.
It is obvious that Mr Farage is a talented individual who has done well financially and has cultivated contacts with wealthy people including the USA President Donald Trump. Issues of general concern such as immigration, asylum seekers, small boats, asylum hotels, grooming gangs have enabled him to maintain a high profile in British politics and to be a vocal critic of both the Conservatives and Labour. He has gained a considerable following and Reform has led in many opinion polls.
Immigration is a genuine concern of many people and cannot simply be dismissed as racist or “far right” even if, for some, those descriptions are accurate. Whilst some immigration has undoubtedly been beneficial it has also altered the demographics of many areas placing pressure on resources such as health care, schools and other public services. The concerns have not been addressed adequately by political parties when in government.
Key international conventions such as the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights are seen by Farage (and other politicians) as standing in the way of the UK getting control of its borders and minimising immigration. He is on record as wishing to withdraw the UK from those conventions.
Wealthy donors:
In April, The Guardian revealed that Farage had been given £5m by Thailand millionaire Christopher Harborne.
A further, and more recent, source of money relates to funds from George Cottrell who was convicted of fraud in the USA - Reform UK’s Farage failed to disclose funds from convicted criminal: Report | Corruption News | Al Jazeera.
Farage claims that these transactions are all above board. He has also claimed that the money from Harborne was an unconditional gift and has offered various reasons for it including it being a reward for Brexit, or to pay for security.
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner commenced an investigation to determine whether the receipts ought to have been declared under the Parliamentary Code of Conduct.
Resignation as MP:
On 7 July 2026, Farage announced that he was resigning as MP for Clacton but would stand for election in the necessary by-election. He tried to frame this as a “people v the establishment” election.
“I've decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions," he said, adding: "And that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election. I will fight to win. I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started."
The obvious problem with that is that the people of Clacton cannot actually judge whether Farage complied with the parliamentary rules. They will not have the detail.
Farage appears to have hoped that the by-election would be between candidates from all the main political parties but, in the event, all such parties declined to participate. It is likely that some others may stand for election including a man known as “Count Binface” who appears frequently at by-elections!
Interestingly, MPs cannot simply resign but if they are appointed to one of two “Offices of Profit under the Crown” their seat becomes vacant. The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 section 4 provides that - ‘ ... the office of steward or bailiff of Her Majesty’s three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham, or of the Manor of Northstead, shall be treated as included among the offices described in Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act.’
The effect is that the holder of one of those offices is disqualified for membership of the House of Commons.
Technically, the government could have refused to make such an appointment but to have done so would probably have been unwise politically.
Where does that leave the Parliamentary Commissioner’s investigation?
The answer to that is found in the Procedural Protocol in respect of the Code of Conduct.
The investigation is therefore suspended but is not closed. If Farage is re-elected, the investigation can resume.
If Farage were to be found in breach of the Code then it is possible for the House to suspend him or expel him.
Expulsion is rare - e.g. where a member is sentenced to imprisonment following conviction for a serious criminal offence. The most famous historical case of expulsion was that of the remarkable John Wilkes (1725 - 1797). In 2014, the Committee on Standards, noted: ‘There is a danger that the power of expulsion could be used to remove people because their opinions were unpopular, rather than because of misconduct. Members are elected, and the decision of the electorate should be respected.’
Suspension - Erskine May - UK Parliament
Expulsion - Erskine May - UK Parliament
A suspension can lead to a Recall Petition (under the Recall of MPs Act 2015) but whether Clacton voters would wish to do that after re-electing Farage is a moot point.
By-elections are triggered by writ:
A by-election is held when the House of Commons moves a writ to hold one - By-election timetables - House of Commons Library
On 9 July the required writ was ordered - Business Before Questions - Hansard - UK Parliament
Manor of Northstead - GOV.UK - announces his appointment to Northstead.
Powers of Parliament over members:
Suspension - Erskine May - UK Parliament
Expulsion - Erskine May - UK Parliament
Recall of MPs - Erskine May - UK Parliament
Media:
More Reform UK transactions worth millions reported to National Crime Agency | Reform UK | The Guardian
Addition 9 July 2026:
More Reform UK transactions worth millions reported to National Crime Agency | Reform UK | The Guardian - A host of transactions involving Reform UK’s most senior figures and donations to the party caused bankers to report potential money-laundering concerns to the National Crime Agency, a Guardian investigation has found.
Manor of Northstead - GOV.UK