Nigel Farage is returning to Parliament after winning an election designed to turn the page on questions over his personal finances that saw the Reform UK leader go head-to-head against a satirical candidate dressed as a trash can.

Farage got 22,239 votes in the constituency centered on the English resort town of Clacton-on-Sea to retain his seat in the House of Commons, beating his main competitor, Count Binface. The perennial joke candidate, who poses as an intergalactic space warrior, received a personal-best 9,455 votes, leading 33 challengers. It was the largest-ever field in a British by-election.

The U.K.’s major parties, including the governing Labour Party and the opposition Conservatives, boycotted the special election, which they derided as a publicity stunt. Farage forced the vote with his surprise decision to resign last month, forestalling a parliamentary probe into the £5 million ($6.8 million) he received from Thailand-based crypto investor, Christopher Harborne.

The Reform leader nonetheless made the unusual decision to skip the count, citing risks to his personal safety, as well as suggesting he didn’t want to share a platform with the other candidates. Farage also canceled a victory speech planned for later Friday in Clacton.

“I’m not scared of these people, far from it,” Farage told supporters ahead of the result. “But 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, and I will not sadly be attending the count.”

While Reform indicated that the Essex Police has advised him not to attend, media including the Press Association reported that the local law enforcement agency gave no such guidance. The returning officer also said he believed the local Tendring Council could ensure the safety of all candidates and that he wasn’t aware Farage wouldn’t be present until his announcement.

While few doubted that Farage would win in a constituency that the Reform leader carried with more than 46% of the vote two years ago, the result will be scrutinized for indications about his prospects for becoming prime minister in the next general election. The right-wing populist party has slipped in public opinion polls in recent weeks, in some cases falling behind a Labour Party reinvigorated by former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham’s installation as premier.

Farage wanted a fresh mandate from the “people vs. the establishment” election to delegitimize questions over the Harborne gift, which Reform argues was given to pay for personal security. Still, inquiries into whether the money constituted a political donation that needed to be publicly disclosed can resume as Farage prepares to take up his seat in the Commons in September.

If the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards decides Farage violated the rules, he could be subject to a recall petition and be made to defend his seat again, this time against more serious opposition than just Count Binface.

“I’m hoping for a big, big, thumping vote,” Farage had told the Sun newspaper on Tuesday. “If I get the result I want, if Standards decide that they want to do it again, well, I think they’d look rather silly.”

(Moira Warburton and Philip Glamann contributed to this report.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.