Nigel Farage

Farage announced on 7 July that he would resign as Clacton's MP and fight the by-election himself, with Reform UK covering the roughly £200,000 cost. On 13 August he won back the seat with 22,239 votes and a 12,784-vote majority over Count Binface. Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, The Greens and Restore Britain fielded no candidates.

His own vote rose by 1,014 on July 2024, while turnout fell from 58.7% to 44.37% and the non-Farage vote fell by 11,861. With no major rival on the ballot, the result shows how many stayed at home rather than how many switched to him.

On 13 May, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg opened a formal inquiry into an undeclared £5m personal gift to Farage from Christopher Harborne, received in early 2024. On 5 July the Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde asked the commissioner to open a second inquiry into his donations.

Farage vacated Clacton on 8 July, and Greenberg's office paused the Harborne inquiry before any finding, because it stops an inquiry once its subject leaves the Commons. The office said the inquiry could restart if he won the seat back, which he did on 13 August. No ruling on either complaint has been published.

On 7 May, Reform UK's councillor base under Farage tripled to 2,126. Within seven days at least seven of those councillors had been suspended, expelled or had resigned, according to Lord Mark Pack's tracker, and Byline Times identified more than 30 others facing possible disciplinary action.

The first-week departure rate ran well above the 10% annual figure the party's own modelling had allowed for. Losses continued into the autumn: on 1 October Labour took the Northumberland County Council seats of Hirst and Amble from Reform.