Reform UKs Week From Hell Despite By Election Win

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’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.

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