Polls open in Clacton, as research shows Farage has spent more than £10,000 in byelection – UK politics live

The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelection

Good morning. In the media, August is known as the “silly season”. With parliament not sitting and many people on holiday, there is less proper news than normal, which means the nonsense stories get (even) more attention than usual. We are almost slap bang in the middle of the month, and today we’ve got a silly season classic in Clacton, where Nigel Farage, the Reform UK candidate, is fighting a byelection in which his main opponent is a joke candidate who dresses up as a dustbin.

Farage is not inherently silly. Few politicians have been more consequential over the past quarter of a century (because he did more than any other single individual to make the Brexit referendum happen); for most of the past 16 months his party has had a big poll lead and he has a very realistic chance of being the next PM; and even if he doesn’t become PM, his hard-right, anti-migrant, crass, crypto-friendly populism will have changed British politics significantly.

POLITICO analysis of the Reform UK leader’s digital campaign messages shows that Farage has run a twin-track strategy in the seaside seat as polls open Thursday. The two key themes of the digital air war have been painting Farage as a champion for local residents — as well as an insurgent leader harried by the “establishment” machine.

Farage and his party have spent more than £10,000 pushing those messages via ads on Meta’s platforms — which include Facebook and Instagram — in the campaign so far.

Almost £1,000 has been spent on videos of Farage urging local supporters to request the party deliver and install an “I’m with Nigel” garden sign. Meanwhile, around £500 went to ads asking voters to return their postal votes and “send a message to the establishment.”

The largest single sum — between £4,000-£4,500 — was spent on an almost five-minute campaign video in which Farage waxes lyrical about the connection he’s made with local constituents, while claiming his party’s surging success has resulted in the powers-that-be using “foul means” to hamper him.