Victorious MPs bask in their moment of glory just minutes after election results are announced.
But Nigel Farage was nowhere to be seen after comfortably winning the Clacton by-election, with 22,239 votes.
In a shock move, he decided not to turn up for the count, or should it be for the Count.
That is Count Binface.
The space and electoral warrior character created by comedian Jon Harvey gained nearly 10,000 votes in a result which was threatening to embarrass the Reform leader even though he got more votes than he did at the 2024 general election.
In a further blow to Mr Farage, within hours of the result being announced, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards made clear he was resuming an investigation into a £5 million gift received by the Reform leader.
Earlier, Reform MPs including Deputy Leader Richard Tice and Lee Anderson had taken to the airwaves to trumpet the Clacton result.
But their interventions only fuelled the political circus around this by-election which is costing the taxpayer an estimated £200,000 or more.
And they cannot conceal the fact that Mr Farage’s woes are far from over as Reform falls in the polls.
Mr Farage actually pre-empted the official result in Clacton by effectively declaring himself the winner.
He then said he would not attend the official declaration at Clacton Leisure Centre, adding that Essex Police had told him about an “organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result”.
A Reform UK spokesperson later said: “Essex Police advised Nigel not to attend the count tonight due to a credible threat against him.”
However, it is understood that Esssex Police did not tell Mr Farage, or any other candidate, not to attend the count.
Police forces rarely give such direct guidance and instead are far more likely to raise potential threats or other issues and it is down to individual candidates to decide how they respond.
A spokesman for the force said: “We have a proportionate and robust policing operation to ensure the safety and security of all participants in the count.”
Council acting returning officer and chief executive Ian Davidson said he did not believe there was any threat serious enough for the count to be called off.
As the row grew, Mr Tice suggested it was Mr Farage’s “team” who judged that “there was sufficient anxiety, and concern, and threats” which meant he should avoid the count.
Amid the confusion, there are two clear possibilities.
The first is that someone did warn Mr Farage of a possible threat, or at least he and Reform genuinely thought that they had been told of such a danger.
After the killing of Ann Widdecombe at her Dartmoor home in Devon, MPs are on even greater alert to the threats against them.
The second is that Mr Farage simply did not want to be photographed at the election next to Count Binface.
In comments possibly pointing to this explanation, Mr Farage told supporters at an all-night “Farage-fest” event organised by Reform in Essex that he would not be attending the count along with the 33 other contenders.
“I’m not scared of these people, far from it,” he said.
“But I’m damned if I’m going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory, a ringing endorsement of all that I’ve tried to fight for, and you’ve tried to fight for, and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies.”
Swiftly after the Reform leader triggered the by-election, as he faced financial allegations, the other main parties decided not to contest it.
Mr Farage denies any wrongdoing.
The lack of other contenders from the main parties, left the field open to a two-horse race between the Reform leader and Count Binface.
Now, Mr Farage did well in boosting his level of support by some 1,000 votes from the general election, or from 46.2% to 63.3%.
Turnout was 44.37%, healthy for a by-election.
But more than one in four Clacton voters, 26.9%, backed a man who walks around the streets with a bin on his head.
If the Reform leader had turned up to the count, the photo and footage of him and Count Binface would have been beamed around Britain and the world with media in America, Australia, India, Japan and across Europe already covering the bizarre by-election.
Mr Farage will now return to Parliament where he will face a renewed inquiry into a £5 million donation from cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne.
He could also face an investigation over support provided by George Cottrell, a long-term ally.
If he is found to have broken the rules for MPs, Mr Farage could be suspended from the Commons and if this is for at least ten days it could lead to another by-election in Clacton under the recall mechanism.
Mr Farage was claiming that the people of Clacton had “stuck two fingers up at the entire political establishment” by backing him in such large numbers.
In Trump-style words, he added: “Look, this is an overwhelming endorsement of me. I have had enough of being judged by mainstream media, being called a criminal.”
But Labour Chair Bridget Phillipson said: “This is no victory for Nigel Farage. The mountain of sleaze and scandal he and Reform are now engulfed in has grown and grown while he’s been trying to distract the public by fighting a by-election against a bin.“
So the Reform leader has clearly not drawn a line in the sand over the furore by resigning from Parliament and sparking the by-election, which could now be followed by a second one.
Or as Count Binface says: “It’s going to be a two-legged match like the Carabao Cup or the Cold War, because we’re going to be back again in a few weeks aren’t we? We’ll see what happens then.”
