NIGEL Farage has announced he is quitting as an MP in order to contest a by-election in his own seat as he finds himself engulfed by scandal – and the bookies have already had their say on his chances.
The Reform UK leader has attempted to frame the move as a way of letting his constituents cast their verdict on whether he broke parliamentary rules by failing to declare financial support from wealthy backers.
Those include the cryptocurrency mogul Christopher Harborne, whose gift of £5 million Farage did not flag to the Commons authorities, and convicted fraudster George Cottrell, who secretly paid for staff and gave the politician a place to stay near Buckingham Palace.
There will now be a by-election in Clacton-on-Sea, the seat Farage won at the 2024 General Election, but a date is set to be confirmed on Wednesday.
All the main parties are boycotting the by-election, calling it variously a "media circus", a “gimmick” and a “fake contest". Only novelty candidate Count Binface has said he will stand against Farage and he told BBC Newsnight he needed the "signatures of 10 local inhabitants" to get on the ballot.
These are the latest odds for Nigel Farage and his rivals in the Clacton by-election
Farage is the bookies' favourite to win the election with odds of 1/8 against Count Binface who is on 5/1, according to Ladbrokes.
Speaking on the day Farage announced he was stepping down, Flynn Goward, managing director at Star Sports, said: “Following Nigel Farage’s announcement that he will resign as MP for Clacton, triggering a by-election in which he says he intends to stand again, the betting suggests punters expect him to have little trouble holding onto the Essex seat."
