General Election: Nigel Farage wins Clacton seat on triumphant night for Reform UK
Nigel Farage has won the seaside seat of Clacton, becoming an MP at the eighth time of asking on what appears to be a triumphant night for his party.
The Reform UK leader claimed more than 21,000 votes to beat Conservative Giles Watling into second place.
He was the second MP of the night to claim victory for the party, following Lee Anderson in Ashfield, who became the first Reform MP to win a seat at a General Election.
In his speech afterwards, he said his job was to fill the gap on the centre-right of politics, adding: "That's exactly what I'm going to do."
He said his plan was to build "a mass, national movement over the course of the next few years" in order to mount a General Election bid in 2029.
He finished: "This is just the first step in something that is going to stun all of you."
Mr Farage's decision to stand, announced on the day he returned as Reform UK leader, was a surprise to the constituency, but he drew hundreds of supporters to the town's pier the following day for his campaign launch.
After the celebrations, Mr Farage was hit by a milkshake as he left a Wetherspoons pub - an incident he later turned to his advantage with a series of social media videos.
Full result from Clacton:
Nigel Farage - Reform UK - 21,225 (46.2%)
Giles Watling - Conservative - 12,820 (27.9%)
Jovan Owusu-Nepaul - Labour - 7,448 (16.2%)
Matthew Bensilum - Lib Dems - 2,016 (4.4%)
Natasha Osben - Green - 1,935 (4.2%)
Tony Mack - Independent - 317 (0.7%)
Andrew Pemberton - Ukip - 116 (0.3%)
Craig Jamieson - Climate Party - 48 (0.1%)
Tasos Papanastasiou - Heritage Party - 33 (0.1%)
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