Last week I attended the count for the Clacton by-election. Here’s what I saw.
I posted updates on the Brightlingsea Info Facebook page, which – as you might imagine – generated quite a bit of comment.
Reform leader Nigel Farage – whose resignation forced the by-election – won his seat back with 22,239 votes. His closest rival, Count Binface, gained 9,455 votes, with the closest of the rest of the record number of candidates, John Stevens (Rejoin EU) taking 492 votes. One independent garnered just seven.
As Brightlingsea isn’t in the Clacton constituency, several people questioned why I was at the count at all. What did it have to with our town?
On one hand, nothing, because we couldn’t vote. But on the other, quite a lot because – as we’re in the Tendring district – some of our council tax went towards paying for what was undoubtedly an expensive affair.
From the record-breaking length of the voting slips – over 900mm – to the unprecedented levels of security around the Clacton Leisure Centre count, this cost. TDC chief executive Ian Davidson estimated it to be around £250,000 with central government picking up most, but not all, of the tab.
However, this was a happening I didn’t want to miss. Thanks to my press contacts with TDC, I was invited as part of the media. Free tickets to the circus? Yes please!
And it was quite a circus. Quite apart from the dozens of press from home and abroad, familiar faces from TV and voices from radio, there were ‘colourful’ candidates a-plenty. Count Binface had some pertinent comments to make about democracy, Howling Laud Hope and his Monster Loony entourage provided plenty of light relief and some of the others were more than a little bit odd, to put it politely.
In the early hours, word went round that Farage would not be attending. His supporters, who had packed the hall while the count was taking place – Essex County Council chairman Peter Harris among them – vanished. Instead, he chose to remain at Farage Fest – a sizeable outdoor event for Reform supporters, completed with illuminated big wheel and bands – held at Great Oakley airfield, miles away from the count (pictured below).
A journalist from the Guardian I was chatting to was tipped off as to the location of the Fest. With hours to wait for the result, I volunteered to drive him there and, somewhat to our suprise, were waved in down the long single track leading to the airfield. We then walked up to the floodlit area, which was surrounded by security fencing and still busy at 3am. We got close to the entrance, but were spotted by security who determined that we didn’t have tickets and politely – but firmly – asked us to leave.
Back at the count, when Farage was announced as the winner, there was silence. The re-elected MP was later reported to have said he was worried about disruption by “nobodies” and a “credible threat” to his security. All I’ll say is that neither was in evidence in the hall, surrounded as it was by police and private security and accessed via airport-style detectors.
So the announcement was something of a damp squib. Instead of the usual victor’s speech, the assembled press had to make do with runner up Count Binface.
News that the inquiry into Farage’s finances by the Parliamentary Standards Committee was being re-opened broke as we packed up – making a second by-election a possibility.
“See you next time,” we joked. Let’s see.
