Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, has won the by-election in Clacton-on-Sea (a constituency on England's southeastern coast) with 62.8 percent of the vote — up sharply from 46.2 percent at the 2024 general election — returning him to the House of Commons. The contest, which all major parties boycotted and labelled a political stunt, was triggered by Farage's own resignation in July amid a parliamentary standards inquiry into an undisclosed £5 million gift from billionaire Christopher Harborne; that inquiry will now resume following his re-election, meaning he could yet face suspension and a second by-election. The vote's most notable subplot was satirical candidate Count Binface — a comedian who performs in a motorcycle suit and dustbin helmet — finishing second with nearly 27 percent, the highest vote share ever recorded by a joke candidate in British electoral history.