Richard Tice couldn’t explain why Farage gave two completely different reasons for skipping the declaration of his own Clacton byelection result, in a genuinely bruising interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari.
Farage comfortably won on Thursday, 22,239 votes, 63.3%, Binface second with 9,455, 26.9%, a 12,784 majority on 44% turnout. He wasn’t there to hear those numbers read out.
Binface and the other candidates stood on stage for the declaration in the early hours of Friday. Farage stayed at a separate Reform event, saying he’d received word about an attempt to disrupt proceedings: “I have been advised tonight by Essex Police that there is an organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result that will take place in a few hours’ time.” Reform later told reporters there’d been a “credible threat” against him.
Essex Police didn’t back that up. The force said no candidate had been advised whether to attend, attendance being a matter for candidates and their own security teams: “We have a proportionate and robust policing operation to ensure the safety and security of all participants in the count.” ITV News reported police hadn’t told any candidate to stay away. That doesn’t mean Farage’s private security team had no concerns of their own. It does mean the decision can’t accurately be presented as an instruction from Essex Police.
Farage had already given a different reason entirely
The police dispute wasn’t Tice’s only problem on LBC the next morning. Farage had also said he was “damned” if he was going to stand on stage after winning and let himself be “demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” which sounds a lot less like a security call and a lot more like refusing to share a platform with the 33 people who’d stood against him, comedy candidate in a bin costume included.
Ferrari asked which version listeners should actually believe. “This appears also to be at odds because we heard Mr Farage say he would not be attending because he didn’t want to be demeaned and humiliated. So that’s nothing to do with his safety. He doesn’t want to stand next to somebody dressed as a dustbin.”
Tice didn’t touch the contradiction. He pivoted to the result instead: “Nigel has just won an outstanding victory. Voters in Clacton have said we want more Nigel, not less Nigel.”
Ferrari tried again: “Is it because he didn’t want to be demeaned and humiliated, as he said, or you’re now telling me that it’s his security team, who overrode Essex Police? Which is it?” Tice said he trusted the judgment of Farage’s security team “above everybody else.” Farage’s own comments still weren’t explained. “So his suggestion he would be demeaned and humiliated is nonsensical?” Ferrari pressed. Tice went back to security again: “Let’s trust Nigel’s security team to keep Nigel safe, secure and alive.”
Third attempt: “Why did he say he would feel demeaned and humiliated in attending, then?”
“I don’t know, Nick.”
Ferrari was never disputing that politicians can face genuine security risks. He was asking why Farage had publicly given an entirely separate reason for the exact same decision. Tice never actually answered that.
A decisive win, followed by an entirely avoidable row
Farage’s absence turned what should’ve been a clean Reform victory into another argument about the party’s own explanations. He won decisively, beat every other candidate combined. Binface still took over a quarter of the vote, the best parliamentary result any British comedy candidate has ever pulled off.
Binface used the result directly to puncture Farage’s claim to be the anti-establishment candidate, pointing out Farage had skipped the declaration entirely while everyone else showed up. And Farage’s win has restarted the parliamentary investigation into whether he should have declared financial support received before the 2024 election, paused when he resigned, reopened now he’s back in the Commons.
None of that changes the Clacton result itself. Local voters gave Farage a big majority. It probably does explain why Reform would’ve preferred Friday’s interviews to stay focused purely on the numbers. Ferrari wanted an answer about the missing winner instead.
Viewers weren’t convinced either
The interview spread fast, and Tice’s increasingly irritated answers got a rough reception.
#@DPJHodges: “There are car crash interviews. And then there’s this…”
@dave43law: “Go Ferrari.” @CarterRoutes called Tice “rattled beyond belief,” comparing the exchange to “some sort of Monty Python-Black Mirror comedy.”
@GayTory accused Reform of “using security as an excuse,” while @KEdge23 said Farage simply “didn’t want to stand next to a bin in Clacton.”
Tice was entitled to defend whatever advice Farage’s security team gave. What he couldn’t explain was why Farage himself had talked about avoiding humiliation rather than avoiding danger. After three attempts, “I don’t know, Nick” was the only straight answer Ferrari actually got.
One response to “Richard Tice loses his temper as Nick Ferrari corners him over Farage’s Clacton count no-show”
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Farage’s position must be untenable as, by his and Reform’s admission, his safety is so permanently at risk he is unable to carry on in his role.
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