Nigel
Farage
has
been
elected
as
an
MP
for
the
first
time,
as
his
Reform
UK
party
won
four
seats.
The
Reform
leader
overturned
a
25,000
Conservative
majority
to
take
Clacton
in
Essex
by
more
than
8,000
votes.
In
a
speech
after
the
result
was
announced,
Mr
Farage
said
it
was
“the
first
step
of
something
that
is
going
to
stun
all
of
you”.
Shortly
after
Reform
also
gained
Great
Yarmouth
and
Boston
and
Skegness
from
the
Tories.
Earlier,
former
Conservative
MP
Lee
Anderson,
who
defected
to
Reform
in
March,
retained
Ashfield
in
Nottinghamshire.
The
BBC
is
not
predicting
that
Reform,
which
was
formed
in
2018
as
the
Brexit
Party,
will
win
any
more
seats.
An
earlier
exit
poll
for
broadcasters
had
forecast
the
party
would
win
13
MPs
–
more
than
many
polls
during
the
campaign
had
predicted.
However,
the
figure
was
highly
uncertain,
as
the
model
suggested
there
were
many
places
where
the
party
only
has
a
relatively
low
chance
of
winning.
Taking
aim
at
the
Conservatives,
Mr
Farage
said:
“There
is
a
massive
gap
on
the
centre-right
of
British
politics
and
my
job
is
to
fill
it.”
Speaking
to
reporters
after
the
result,
he
suggested
“this
is
the
beginning
of
the
end
of
the
Conservative
Party”.
Mr
Farage
said
Reform
would
“now
be
targeting
Labour
votes”.
“What
is
interesting
is,
there’s
no
enthusiasm
for
Labour,
there’s
no
enthusiasm
for
[Keir]
Starmer
whatsoever.
In
fact,
about
half
of
the
vote
is
simply
an
anti-Conservative
vote,”
he
said.
“We’re
coming
for
Labour,
be
in
no
doubt
about
that.”
Polling
expert
Sir
John
Curtice
said
Reform
had
benefited
from
a
significant
fall
in
the
Conservative
vote
in
seats
the
party
had
previously
held,
as
well
as
advancing
most
in
areas
where
people
voted
Leave
in
the
2016
referendum.
In
all
four
seats
won
by
Reform
more
than
70%
of
people
voted
for
Brexit.
Reform
UK
chairman
Richard
Tice
overturned
a
27,402
Tory
majority
to
win
Boston
and
Skegness.
Meanwhile,
in
Great
Yarmouth,
businessman
and
former
Southampton
FC
chairman
Rupert
Lowe
beat
the
Labour
candidate
by
1,426,
with
the
Tories
slipping
to
third
place.
In
an
early
sign
of
Reform’s
success
in
winning
over
former
Tory
voters,
the
first
two
results
of
the
night
in
north-east
England
–
in
Blyth
and
Ashington
and
in
Houghton
and
Sunderland
South
–
saw
the
party
beat
the
Conservatives
by
more
than
4,000
votes.
The
pattern
was
repeated
in
a
number
of
other
seats,
as
the
Tory
vote
share
plummeted.
However,
Reform
had
less
success
winning
seats
off
Labour.
In
Barnsley
North,
where
the
exit
poll
had
forecast
a
99%
likelihood
of
Reform
taking
the
seat,
Labour
held
the
seat
with
an
increased
majority
of
7,811.
Reform’s
candidate,
Robert
Lomas,
who
was
disowned
by
the
party
last
week
for
offensive
comments
on
social
media,
came
in
second
place.
In
Hartlepool,
another
seat
forecast
to
go
to
Reform,
Labour
also
held
on
comfortably
with
a
majority
of
7,698.
Mr
Farage
has
said
he
is
aiming
for
Reform
to
become
the
main
opposition
to
Labour
by
the
time
of
the
next
election.
His
surprise
announcement
that
he
was
standing
in
the
election,
after
previously
saying
he
would
not,
saw
a
jump
in
Reform’s
poll
ratings.
At
the
same
time,
he
took
over
from
Mr
Tice
as
Reform’s
leader
and
he
has
played
a
prominent
role
in
the
party’s
campaign.
The
former
UKIP
and
Brexit
Party
leader
has
stood
unsuccessfully
to
be
an
MP
seven
times,
most
recently
in
South
Thanet,
Kent,
in
the
2015
general
election,
when
he
finished
second
behind
the
Tory
candidate.
Clacton
was
the
first
constituency
to
elect
a
UKIP
MP
in
2014,
after
former
Tory
MP
Douglas
Carswell
defected
to
the
party
and
triggered
a
by-election,
which
he
won.
In
2019
Reform’s
previous
incarnation,
the
Brexit
Party,
stood
aside
in
more
than
300
seats
previously
won
by
the
Tories,
amid
concerns
it
could
split
the
pro-Brexit
vote.
However,
this
time
the
party
contested
630
seats
across
England,
Scotland
and
Wales.
Fielding
an
almost
full
slate
of
candidates
in
Great
Britain
posed
challenges
for
the
party.
Reform
has
had
to
disown
six
of
them
over
offensive
comments
since
nominations
closed.
The
party
has
blamed
the
surprise
announcement
of
a
July
election,
as
well
as
claiming
a
company
it
hired
to
conduct
background
checks
on
would-be
candidates
failed
to
carry
out
vetting
before
the
election
was
called.
Two
Reform
candidates
also
defected
to
the
Conservatives
over
what
they
said
was
a
failure
of
the
party’s
leadership
to
tackle
the
issue.
However,
it
was
too
late
to
remove
any
of
these
candidates
so
they
still
appeared
for
the
party
on
ballot
papers.
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