2 min read1 hr

Farage secured a comfortable victory in the Essex constituency, winning around 63 per cent of the vote.

Novelty candidate Count Binface came second with 26 per cent of the vote.

Farage resigned as an MP and triggered the by-election in July amid growing pressure over a £5m donation he received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne weeks before announcing his intention to run in the 2024 general election.

His failure to declare the donation led to an investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog.

The investigation is set to continue once Farage returns to Parliament, and could result in suspension and another by-election if he is found to have broken the rules.  

Speaking in July, Farage described the by-election as “people versus the establishment”, adding that the “people of Clacton” would be “the judges” of his actions.

“It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go, and that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election,” he said.

A Farage victory in Clacton was widely regarded as almost certain despite his personal ratings taking a hit in recent weeks. The seaside town is often described as one of the most right-wing constituencies in the country and a major Reform stronghold.

Labour, the Conservatives and the other mainstream political parties announced early in the campaign that they would not stand candidates to go up against Farage, arguing that the by-election was unnecessary and a waste of money.

That left a long list of independent and novelty candidates, including Binface, whose policies included hosting Eurovision 2028 in Clacton and relocating Parliament to the Essex village of Weeley, the Monster Raving Looney Party and Everyone Is God Party. 

David Lidington arrives at 10 Downing Street, 2018 (Alamy)

3 min read45 min

David Lidington, who served as Theresa May’s de facto deputy prime minister during his almost three decades as a Tory MP, argued that a future Conservative victory will require the party to step out of its electoral comfort zone.

Speaking on this week’s episode of PoliticsHome podcast The Rundown, which will be published on Friday (14 August), Lidington said the current generation of Conservative MPs should look at how electorally successful leaders like Margaret Thatcher “departed massively from a lot of political assumptions that had dominated politics”.

Lidington, now a member of centre-right campaign group Prosper UK, said his party’s “big challenge” as it looks to rebuild under leader Kemi Badenoch is “to look beyond our own core support, which is the over-65s at the moment, and really make inroads into the support of younger age groups”.

“We need policies certainly on the economy and economic growth but also on things like housing policy, that are going to offer hope to young people with aspiration,” he said.

“And you say to older people, ‘This is about building the right country for your kids and your grandkids.’ I think, you present the argument in that way, and people will buy into that, even if those policies are not directed purely to people my age.”

Asked specifically whether he would reform the triple lock, he said: “I’m a beneficiary of the triple lock. I’m over pensionable age. I would scrap it. I would go to a straightforward earnings link.”

Under the existing policy, introduced by the Coalition government, the state pension is guaranteed to be uprated every year by whichever is highest – inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent.

Critics warn that rising life expectancy and falling birth rates, combined with periods of high inflation, mean the commitment is not sustainable in the long term, and will only worsen intergenerational inequality at a time when young people face significant economic challenges.

Earlier this year, the Tony Blair Institute think tank called for the triple lock to be replaced, describing it as “increasingly unaffordable” and belonging to a “different era”.

Speaking on The Rundown, Lidington said: “At a time when young people can work every hour God gives them and still struggle to get on the first rung of the housing ladder… People 18 to 25 living with their parents. When you’ve got real issues about how technology is shaping up the job market for school and college leavers. People are delaying having children later and later in life.

“We need to give those people hope.”

The former Conservative MP said he would link reduced pension spending to funding a reformed social care system as part of a “new intergenerational bargain”.

“We can’t just load ever more tax and borrowing onto the shoulders of young people, onto the shoulders of your children, your grandchildren, who are going to have to pick up the tab if we don’t make changes,” he added.

“There are ways in which to sell such a policy, but I do think those hard choices need to be faced up to.”

In the forthcoming episode, Lidington also said Badenoch is “absolutely right” to reject a pact with Reform UK, warning that a deal with Nigel Farage’s party would be “deeply, deeply damaging” for the Conservatives, and said it was “contemptible” for Reform’s Zia Yusuf to call former Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace a “traitor”.

This week’s The Rundown is presented by Adam Payne, and is produced and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

• Click here to listen to the latest episode of The Rundown, or search for ‘PoliticsHome’ wherever you get your podcasts.

Andy Burnham visits The Hub cafe in Derbyshire as part of his tour of the UK. (Alamy)

2 min read14 min

Burnham said on Tuesday that he had asked Justice Secretary Alex Norris to find ways of exempting more of the most serious criminals from the government’s early release scheme.

Speaking in Derbyshire this morning, the PM said: “I don’t want to see a single prisoner released early, and that’s the spirit that I’ve brought to the first three weeks that I’ve served as Prime Minister, and I’ve always worked like that.

“I’m confident that there’s more that can be done, and will be done to address public concern.”

Burnham has said that options on the table to create additional space in the prison system include quicker removal of foreign national offenders, releasing lower-risk prisoners serving indefinite sentences, and making better use of Britain’s prison capacity, including using female prisons for male offenders.

“I have spent recent days considering in depth all of the issues involved and the range of advice I have received. I have been pushing for further progress. I have not accepted that it is impossible to do more,” said Burnham. 

Norris is expected to present proposals to Parliament in early September.

The new Labour government is coming under pressure to ensure that Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers are not released early as part of efforts to relieve pressure on prison capacity.

The pair, who were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020, were due to be freed in January after serving around half of their sentences.

“I’ve heard the depth of concern felt across the country about the potential release of the killers of PC Andrew Harper. I feel for the family and the anguish that they’re going through,” Burnham has said.

The government has already announced that murderers, rapists and child sex offenders, including grooming gang perpetrators, would be exempt from the scheme. 

However, the Harper case has put pressure on ministers to go further, following criticism from his relatives and friends.

At the same time, the government is trying to make sure that prisons in England and Wales do not run out of space amid recent warnings that the estate is close to reaching full capacity.