The Mirror’s Cecilia Adamou was in Clacton on Thursday evening as the Reform UK leader finally won a seat on his eighth attempt to become an MP – here’s how the surreal moment unfolded
I witnessed Nigel Farage win a seat in Parliament.
It was his eighth time trying – and his only successful attempt – so forgive me if, even standing metres before him, moments before the announcement and exit polls predicting his fairly large majority, I still thought it wasn’t going to happen.
Hundreds and thousands of us watched with bated breath as Sunak stood in the rain on that chilly May afternoon and announced that the country would hold a general election. What followed for many, including myself, was the glorious realisation that finally, this was our chance to put an end to the sordid 14 year Tory reign.
Follow along with the Mirror’s election live blog HERE
For me, a young journalist, this was an exciting opportunity to cover what was promised to be a record-breaking election that will no doubt go down in history. It never would have occurred to me that I would be watching from touching distance as Farage finally took his long sought after seat in Parliament.
On the drive up to his constituency of Clacton, about 10 miles out, I began to notice ‘Vote Reform’ signs hung over the sides of overbridges on the motorway, Farage’s face smiling down to passing traffic. It was clear that the support for him and his party was there. But would it be enough? Clearly, it was.
But standing in that room, packed together in a crowd with members of the world’s media, I’ll be the first to admit I still let out a small gasp when his name was called: “Nigel Farage for Reform, 21,225 votes”. Luckily, my audible surprise was drowned out by the sound of loud cheers coming from his team. Looking around, from what I could tell, I wasn’t the only one who was shocked.
After he made his speech, beaming to his audience and the gaggle of cameras in front of of him, promising to “target the Labour vote” over the next five years and make even bigger gains in the 2029 election, he spoke to the press some more and was escorted out of the room by security. The room felt still, sombre, quiet. Perhaps it was a projection of my own feelings, or the fact that most of us had been up all night.
It was only a month ago that Nigel Farage decided he would end his retirement and, as he put it, “throw his hat in the ring”. You’ve got to give it to the guy. To drum up enough support in just that short period of time to earn 46 per cent of the votes in his area is something not many politicians could pull off.
But as the UK wakes up to an unprecedented landslide Labour victory, and the worst Tory result in history, I can’t help but think about the four seats gained by the Reform party – and the many more constituencies where they gained second or third place results – and what that tells us about the growing radical right of this country. What it tells us about an election battle fought on immigration numbers – a topic at the pinnacle of Reform’s campaign.
Alas, the electorate has spoken and democracy has done its job. I know many in the room with me last night, and across the country, will be delighted by Reform’s gains last night, earning 14% of the vote.
But although four seats may not seem like a lot, for a party plagued by a spate of controversies centred around racism and hate in recent weeks, it’s certainly a surprise to me. I can only hope that as we go forward with our new Prime Minister and a Labour government, this country and its leaders can put division aside and bring humanity to the forefront.
