Image source, Getty Images

Here's how the night played out as Nigel Farage's return to Parliament was confirmed - though the Reform UK leader wasn't there to see it:

Thursday, 22:00 Polls close in Clacton, with the first ballot boxes arriving at Clacton Leisure Centre by 22:15

Friday, 00:42 Farage tells GB News he has won the by-election "fairly convincingly" at an event dubbed "Farage Fest" for his supporters in Essex

02:00 The turnout for Thursday's vote is confirmed at 44.37% - higher than some other recent by-elections, but lower than Andy Burnham's win in Makerfield

03:00 Farage says he will not attend the count, saying: "I am damned if I am going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory... and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies." He says Essex Police told him about an "organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result"

03:35 A Reform UK spokesperson says Essex Police advised Farage not to attend the count "due to a credible threat against him"

05:13 The BBC reports that it understands Essex Police did not advise any candidate that they should not attend, and the force says it has a "robust policing operation to ensure the safety and security of all participants"

06:04 Nigel Farage's return to Parliament is confirmed as he secures 22,239 votes and wins the contest

06:36 After reportedly cancelling an expected mid-morning speech, Farage writes on social media: "The result in Clacton speaks for itself"

Image source, PA Media

Essex Police say there were no "incidents or issues" regarding the Clacton by-election on Thursday and overnight.

Nigel Farage opted against appearing at the vote count at Clacton Leisure Centre as Reform UK said Essex Police had advised the leader there was a "credible threat" against him.

The BBC understands Essex Police did not advise any candidate not to attend.

A spokesperson for the force says "there were no incidents or issues throughout yesterday and into the early hours of this morning".

It says there was "a full and robust policing operation in place around the Clacton by-election", and it takes the safety and security of elected officials "extremely seriously".

"The decision of candidates to attend or not attend the election count is a decision for individuals and their security teams, our role is to make sure our policing operation is sufficiently robust to ensure the safety of all," the spokesperson says.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, Nigel Farage secured 22,239 votes to secure his victory in Clacton's by-election.

This puts his share of the vote at 63.34%, an increase of 17.16 percentage points on his initial election victory in 2024.

This time, though, Farage was not opposed by any of the major political parties.

Aside from Farage only one other candidate - Count Binface, who secured 26.93% - got more than 2% of the vote share.

Image source, House of Commons

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart has called for investigations into Nigel Farage's financial affairs must "crack on" after his return to Parliament was confirmed by his by-election victory.

Farage had been facing scrutiny over his finances before he triggered the by-election - our earlier post has the details.

"Triggering a vanity by-election was a blatant attempt to dodge being held to account," Smart says.

"A sitting MP under investigation should never be able to weaponise a by-election into a taxpayer-funded attempt to escape scrutiny.”

Farage denies that there has been any wrongdoing.

A comfortable, but not crushing win - and few lessons to draw about the national picturepublished at 07:29 BST

07:29 BST

Harry Farley
Reporting from Clacton

Image source, Getty Images

In the end it was a comfortable end to a surreal election night.

Nigel Farage won 63.3% of the vote. That’s a greater share - and more votes - than he won two years ago in the General Election. That fact is something being seized upon by Reform UK sources to argue it vindicates the decision to trigger this by-election.

But that vote share is lower than the 71% won by David Davis in the closest comparable by-election we have when Davis triggered a ballot which the other main parties boycotted.

So it was comfortable but not crushing.

Now Farage will return to parliament. That means the independent investigation resumes into whether he broke the rules by not declaring a £5m gift before he was elected.

Reform UK argue he's done nothing wrong and this result sends a message that voters don’t care. But the reality is there aren’t many lessons we can draw from this result in this particular corner of Essex for Farage's standing in the country as a whole.

Image source, PA Media

Labour chairwoman Bridget Phillipson says Nigel Farage's by-election success "doesn't clear his name" as questions remain around his finances.

Before announcing he would be stepping down to seek a by-election in Clacton, Farage faced an investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog for a potential breach of MPs' rules on financial interests.

A Metropolitan Police investigation has also been launched into donations to Reform UK.

Now Phillipson says: "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."

Reform UK sources say no party officials have been interviewed by the police, and Farage has denied that he has broken parliamentary rules.

Farage's by-election victory won't stop questions about financespublished at 07:18 BST

07:18 BST

Joe Pike
Political correspondent

Nigel Farage is clearly popular in Clacton, his party has had a commanding lead in national opinion polls for much of the past 18 months, and he has achieved something remarkable in turning his upstart organisation into a mass-membership movement with a serious chance of getting into government.

But today's result won't stop the Metropolitan Police investigation into donations to Reform UK, questions about Farage's friendship with a convicted fraudster, or the parliamentary investigation into why he did not register a £5m gift from a billionaire donor.

And given Farage triggered this race and the result was entirely predictable, what was the point of it all?

When he made his surprise announcement last month that he was resigning to run for a seat he already represented, the Reform leader said "the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions" - and he wanted to "fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started".

Now the election is over, Farage is likely to face renewed scrutiny on those outstanding questions about his finances.

• Read more of my analysis here: Farage's by-election victory won't stop questions about finances

Nigel Farage has posted on social media, saying: "The result in Clacton speaks for itself."

As a reminder, the Reform UK leader did not attend the count in Clacton, but spoke overnight at a Reform UK event to celebrate his victory.

Reform said police had advised Farage against attending, but the BBC understands that Essex Police did not tell any candidate they should not attend.

More from Lee Anderson's interview with BBC Breakfast...

Asked about reports that Nigel Farage has cancelled a speech planned for 10:30 BST this morning, Anderson replies: "I've not had any notification just yet, but it could be correct".

It's put to him that there is a long-standing convention that the winner of an election will address those gathered to hear the result, and speak to the media. He's asked why Farage has not done that today.

"Well you'd have to ask Mr Farage that," Anderson says. When challenged that Farage has not spoken to the BBC, Anderson says Farage has "decided that his time would be better spent" with his supporters and activists "than people like the BBC", adding: "I don't blame him".

"He's took the advice and I think he's done the right thing," Anderson responds when asked about Farage's decision not to attend.

"I think his time is better spent saying a massive thank you to the thousands of people that's turned up over the past month to help him secure his historic victory."

It's put to him that the BBC understands Farage was not advised by police against attending.

"If Nigel gets up on stage and says he's been advised not to attend the event, then I believe Nigel above the police and especially above you lot," he says.

Today's result, Anderson continues, "says to the people in the wider country that Nigel's here to stay".

Lee Anderson's speaking to BBC Breakfast.

It's put to him the BBC would like to speak to Nigel Farage this morning, and he's asked if that's possible.

Anderson says Farage is a "little bit busy" and "still celebrating" after the Reform UK leader decided against appearing at the declaration in person, but says Farage has made an address to the party's supporters.

We'll bring you more from Anderson's interview in our next post.

Count Binface - whose real name is Jonathan David Harvey - received 9,455 votes, and he says he's "gratified" that he was able to hear the verdict of "Clactonites" in this morning's result.

"In Makerfield eight weeks ago I got 95 votes," he continues. "So against Nigel Farage compared to Andy Burnham, I am 1,000 times more popular."

"Does that have anything to do with why he isn't here tonight?" he asks.

As a reminder, Farage did not attend the vote count at Clacton Leisure Centre.

Our political correspondent Harry Farley writes that there has been some confusion over why Farage did not attend.

Image source, PA Media

We've just brought you the full results - here's how it looked as the candidates lined up in Clacton to hear the results.

Nigel Farage was declared the winner, but he did not attend the count in person.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

The official declaration of Nigel Farage's victory was met with mostly silence at Clacton leisure centre.

It's unusual for the winning candidate not to receive cheers and applause from within the room, but as we've been reporting Farage, and most Reform UK party members, have not attended the declaration.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has received 22,239 votes in the Clacton by-election that he triggered by stepping down as an MP.

This is enough votes for him to win the election. As a reminder, turnout was 44.37%.

Count Binface has received a career-best 9,455 votes in the Clacton by-election.

The declaration is ongoing, we'll bring you more shortly.

Harry Farley
Reporting from Clacton

Reform UK has cancelled a planned speech from Nigel Farage in Clacton this morning.

The party did not give a reason.

Farage had been due to give what the party billed as a “major speech” at 10:30 BST.

Image source, Reuters

Harry Farley
Reporting from Clacton

There is slight confusion over the reasons coming from Reform UK to explain why Nigel Farage is not attending the count.

In his speech, he told supporters at a party down the road: “I'm sad to say that after 33 years of being a candidate in active politics, I've been advised tonight by Essex Police that there is an organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result.”

He added: "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.”

But in a statement after Farage’s speech, a Reform UK spokesperson said it was more than humiliation.

“Essex Police advised Nigel not to attend the count tonight due to a credible threat against him,” the spokesperson said.

But we understand that Essex Police has not advised any candidate to stay away from the count.

In a statement the force said: "We have a proportionate and robust policing operation to ensure the safety and security of all participants in the count.”

So there is confusion about Reform’s explanation for why Farage has chosen not to come, but the bottom line is he won’t be coming.

Image source, PA Media

If you're just joining us, no, we don't have a result yet - but we expect one soon.

Here's what you've missed:

• Speaking a few hours after counting began, Nigel Farage declared victory and described Count Binface as "the establishment candidate"
• Asked by GB News about the parliamentary inquiry into the £5 million gift he received, Farage replied "who cares, the voters of Clacton don’t care"
• In response, Count Binface said Farage - as "one of the most dominant figures in British politics over the last 20 years" - was more establishment than "a lone wolf space warrior"

• At about 03:00 BST, Farage told supporters at a Reform UK party - branded "Farage Fest" - that he would not be attending the Clacton declaration as he would not be "demeaned and humiliated by nobodies"
• A Reform UK spokesperson later said Essex Police has advised Farage "not to attend the count tonight due to a credible threat against him"
• However, the BBC understands that Essex Police has not advised any candidate that they should not attend the count
• By-election returning officer Ian Davidson said organisers "worked closely with Essex Police" to ensure safety and security

We expect the result to be declared imminently, so stick with us - you can also watch live at the top of this page.