𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A burned-out van sits abandoned on a Clacton street, its charred shell a bleak welcome to the seaside town Nigel Farage now wants to represent all over again. It is, some locals mutter, a fitting symbol of a Britain many here feel has been left to rot, and it’s exactly the sort of decay the Reform UK leader has built his career railing against.

On a windswept seafront in Clacton, opinion on Nigel Farage seems to be as changeable as the Essex weather. The Reform UK leader has stunned Westminster by triggering a by-election in his own constituency, and standing in it himself. But is he a self-serving chancer as his rivals allege, or the only man willing to take on the establishment? The answer came as a surprise. Clacton, it turns out, is bitterly divided.

‘That man got us out of the common market when nobody else would’

Express reader Pat Wright, looking out over the coast with a group of friends, has no doubt where she stands.

“That man got us out of the common market when nobody else would,” she said. “He’s always said what he’s going to do, we’ve got to give him a chance.”

The pensioner said politicians had ignored ordinary people for too long. “We gave Labour a chance, we gave the Tories a chance, and nobody listens to us.”

She said the country needed “a businessman in Parliament” to grip immigration, adding: “The worst thing Labour did was stop the heating allowance.”

Ms Wright slams Labour, telling the Express they’re “frightened” of Farage.

Her verdict was blunt: “Be our next Prime Minister, do what you’re going to do, because it’ll be your last chance.”

But not everyone was convinced. Rob Woolf, who backed Mr Farage in 2024 because he “wanted a change”, said he now felt let down.

‘I think it’s a load of rubbish’

“Basically I think it’s a load of rubbish. What has he done? He hasn’t really done anything for Clacton,” he said.

Mr Woolf claimed the by-election was a wheeze so Mr Farage “hasn’t got to declare any money”, adding: “I definitely won’t vote for him again.”

Down on the beach, Lisa was even harsher. “This by-election is a sham, and it is just his way of trying to manipulate the voters,” she said.

“I am not a fan of Mr Farage, never have been and never will be.”

Rosemary, 93, was equally scathing, insisting the Reform leader was “only out for number one”.

But tucking into a sausage bap at a beachside cafe, Peter Cheeseman had other concerns – he had not realised Mr Farage was his MP at all.

“That surprises me, that does,” he said. Asked if Mr Farage could win, he smiled: “He’s got a 50/50 chance.”

As for that burned-out van, it was still there when we left. But so too was the stubborn pride of a town that has never stopped hoping someone, one day, might finally listen.