REFORM UK have put on a bizarre Clacton by-election party dubbed “Farage Fest”.
As the votes were being counted at Clacton Leisure Centre, party supporters and high-profile politicians including Lee Anderson and Danny Kruger were spotted nursing pints and dancing in a field in Essex.
It comes as Nigel Farage has declared victory against joke candidate Count Binface in the by-election, which he called amid pressure over a £5m donation from a crypto billionaire.
GB News, in attendance, took viewers on a tour of the event, which included a ferris wheel and multiple tents. The right-wing broadcaster’s political editor Christopher Hope dubbed it a “political Glastonbury in the middle of Essex”.
The journalist added that is “unlike any political event” he has ever been to as he went on a walkabout at what appeared to be a largely empty event at the time.
'This is a political Glastonbury in the middle of Essex!' GB News Political Editor @ChristopherHope is live from 'Farage-Fest', saying it is 'unlike any political event he has ever been to', as he takes viewers on a walkabout of the venue while counting begins in Clacton. pic.twitter.com/T01K8zYZ10
— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 13, 2026
Hope also later spoke with Farage who said it was “about fun”.
He added: “We’re serious people. We care about the country but unlike the boring so-and-so’s than inhabit Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems – the pious Lib Dems – we’re real. We’re having fun.”
But not everyone was impressed, with social media users hitting out at the “ tragic” event.
“This is possibly the saddest thing I've ever seen, and all because he potentially beat a man in a bin,” one person said.
Another added: “This is f**king tragic! Whatever this has cost Farage (or Christopher Harborne) could have been better spent on a local good cause.”
