Nigel Farage has announced that he will resign as a member of parliament and force a by-election in the constituency of Clacton.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the Reform UK leader vowed he would stand as a candidate in the contest so that voters in Clacton could be the “judges of my actions”.
Farage delivered the live statement concerning his “future in public life” after facing growing questions over a series of donations. He is facing an investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner over a £5 million gift he received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Farage, who returned to frontline politics shortly before the 2024 general election, took aim at the “mainstream media” and the “establishment”. He insisted that he had done “nothing wrong”.
The Reform leader then declared his intention to vacate his parliamentary seat and force a by-election in Clacton in order to give voters a chance to “stick two fingers up to the establishment”.
Farage stated: “I thought about it hard and I have decided today I will resign as a member of parliament for Clacton-on-Sea, thereby forcing a by-election, which should happen, I hope, in short order.
“Now I’ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions. This will be a people versus the establishment by-election. 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.
“I will fight to win. I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started, and I would say this to you, the voters of Clacton, if I win, you win, because if I lose, they win, and we will never with the two old parties get the type of fundamental change that we need to fix broken Britain.”
