Nigel Farage elected Clacton MP as Reform UK wins four seats by 4am.
Party leader to join its chair, Richard Tice, former Tory Lee Anderson and former Southampton FC chair Rupert Lowe in Commons.
Nigel Farage has been elected as the MP for Clacton, finally succeeding in getting a seat in parliament at his eighth attempt.
The Reform UK leader’s victory came on a night when the hard-line right-wing party surged in support elsewhere, winning four seats by 4am on Friday, with the former Conservative deputy chair Lee Anderson successfully defending his seat in Ashfield.
Richard Tice, Reform’s chair and the man who stepped aside so Farage could return, won Lincolnshire constituency of Boston and Skegness, calling it “the proudest day of my life”. The former Southampton football club chairman Rupert Lowe also won a seat in Great Yarmouth, which has been held by the Conservatives since 2010.
Farage defeated the Conservative candidate, Giles Watling, who had represented the coastal constituency in Essex since 2017. Farage won 21,225 votes to Watling’s 12,820, a majority of 8,405.
In a speech after his victory was announced, Farage served notice that his party would be turning its guns on Labour.
“We are coming for Labour … be in no doubt about that,” he said, in a short speech at a leisure centre in the seaside town.
Revelling in the Conservatives’ heavy defeat across the country, Farage railed against the party of which he had once been a member, telling reporters: “They are literally a broad church that has no shared religion.”
He ruled out working in parliament with the Conservative party itself but opened the door to Tory MPs coming over to Reform.
Asked if he wanted to become prime minister, he replied: “Whatever happens, happens, and probably by 2029 this movement will have found someone younger and better looking than me.”
Farage told reporters he would “speak up” and provide a challenge in government. As to what Tory MPs should do, he said those who were part of the “one nation” tradition should stay where they were, while others should look to Reform and “join the team”.
Blogger: Misrepresentation by The Guardian. 'The hard-line right-wing party.' ??? They can't even be honest in victory. They have unapologetically presented the BBC fiction. Reform UK is centre-right and THEY KNOW THIS FULL WELL!
