{"id":685980,"date":"2026-07-11T12:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/685980\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T12:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:17:12","slug":"its-wizard-of-oz-stuff-clacton-voters-divided-over-farage-byelection-clacton-byelection-august-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/685980\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s Wizard of Oz stuff\u2019: Clacton voters divided over Farage byelection | Clacton byelection August 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Nigel Farage<\/a> inflicts an August byelection on the Clacton constituency in Essex, local voters are divided over whether they need, or want, to give the Reform UK leader a fresh mandate.<\/p>\n

In this self-styled battle between the \u201cestablishment and the people\u201d views range from adulatory to sceptical to outright cynical over a contest that all mainstream parties are boycotting, leaving Count Binface and Laurence Fox as Farage\u2019s only potential rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s good he\u2019s called an election,\u201d says Sam Borgman (main image, right), who programmes electronics in racing cars. \u201cIt shines a spotlight on him and exposes his motives. It\u2019s Wizard of Oz stuff, style over substance. I think having a man with a bin on his head as his rival is possibly the contempt he deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

People walking along the seafront at Walton-on-the-Naze, in the Clacton constituency. Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Farage had staged a quick media event in Frinton-on-Sea. \u201cHe looked rather rattled I thought, quite severe,\u201d said Philippa, a resident who has previously voted Liberal Democrat. \u201cIt was quite extraordinary, just this wall of people in suits coming towards us just walking along; he wasn\u2019t engaging with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another voter, Nick, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a stunt, I think he has overplayed his hand. I suspect he had come back from the 250th celebrations in the US after meeting Trump people who told him: \u2018You should go direct to the people\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick: \u2018I think he has overplayed his hand.\u2019 Photograph: Lisa O\u2019Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Just two years after being elected an MP for the first time, Farage\u2019s gamble is that voters know best and will see past the financial questions that are engulfing his leadership<\/a>, and which some, like Borgman, believe are a trap of his own making.<\/p>\n

Before 2024, the 70,000-strong constituency was a Conservative seat held by Giles Watling, and before that, Douglas Carswell, a Conservative who defected to Ukip.<\/p>\n

Giles Watling, a former Tory MP for Clacton: \u2018Farage tells people what they want to hear and he does it very effectively.\u2019 Photograph: Lisa O\u2019Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Watling, who won by a landslide in 2019 with 72% of the vote, says his 24,700 majority was wiped out when Farage ran in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will win, of course, and then the parliamentary standards inquiry will resume, and depending on what happens there could be another byelection,\u201d Watling says, for which he is \u201cvaguely on standby\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI meet people all the time that said they voted for Farage but wish they hadn\u2019t,\u201d Watling says. \u201cI won\u2019t take anything from him \u2013 he is a genius in many ways. He talks, he tells people what they want to hear, and he does it very effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin: \u2018I think Farage is honest. What reason would he have not to be?\u2019 Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

In Jaywick, a poorer neighbourhood 2 miles south of Clacton-on-Sea, voters are backing Farage.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigel is not running scared of the parliamentary investigation,\u201d says Martin, a retired locksmith who says he is on \u201cfirst name terms\u201d with Farage. \u201cI think he is honest. What reason would he have not to be? He made his fortune in the City and he\u2019s gone into politics to do something better for this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s already been found guilty. He is the most bashed politician in this country but I think he would make a brillant prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaywick<\/a> was originally conceived as a holiday village and is now repeatedly recorded as one of the most deprived areas in England, with high unemployment, poor housing that is prone to flooding, and poor health outcomes for an older than average population.<\/p>\n

George, with his sister Colleen: \u2018Farage doesn\u2019t do anything for the residents down here.\u2019 Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

George, who is hosting a stall next to the new SunSpot business park once described as \u201ca ray of hope\u201d for the town, says: \u201cThe buses stopped running down here for a few weeks until last Thursday because of the potholes. We had to fill them ourselves. Farage doesn\u2019t do anything for the residents down here, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul, in Clacton-on Sea, says the poverty in Jaywick is well known but Farage can fix it. \u201cHe just needs to stay. He needs to stop quitting when things get tough.\u201d He says he is not worried about the financial questions swirling around the Reform leader. \u201cThey\u2019re all the same, politicians, even David Cameron was in it for the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike French, a retiree walking his dog alongside a golden sandy beach in Jaywick, goes back further to make the same point. \u201cHe\u2019s not corrupt. I mean look at Maggie Thatcher and the Saudis and her son,\u201d he said in reference to allegations Mark Thatcher benefited financially while his mother was the prime minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are frightened of [Farage] because he wants to change too much in this country that they don\u2019t want him to change,\u201d says French.<\/p>\n

His former wife, Clare, who lives in Clacton-on-Sea, says the town is so run down now she got up that morning and thought: \u201cI don\u2019t want to live here any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

But is Farage going to fix that? \u201cNo,\u201d interjects Mike, with an air of resignation. \u201cHe\u2019s got too much on his plate. Let\u2019s face it, we come somewhere in the bottom.\u201d But having moved from Dagenham, in London, he adds: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t move from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris: If Farage has done something wrong \u2018he doesn\u2019t deserve to be an MP\u2019. Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Further down the beach path, Chris protests over the lack of a decent playground for his two young children or nursery places in Jaywick. He is still voting for Farage because he thinks he is \u201ccommitted\u201d and \u201cfor the working people\u201d.<\/p>\n

But, he adds: \u201cHe should be a little bit more transparent if he thinks the people of Jaywick are going to stick up for him. Hopefully he has done nothing wrong, but if he has he doesn\u2019t deserve to be an MP.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Nigel Farage inflicts an August byelection on the Clacton constituency in Essex, local voters are divided over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-685980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}