The Albany Gazette - In Brexit stronghold, UK voters ready for Farage's 'revolt'

"Well done Farage!" one passer-by told AFP. "He's a star!" added another.

Farage, the 60-year-old leader of the anti-establishment Reform UK Party, finally secured a seat at the UK's Westminster parliament -- on his eighth attempt -- in the early hours of the morning.

Just a month after he received a hero's welcome in the town when he announced his candidacy, Farage overturned a 25,000 Conservative majority to win by over 8,000 votes.

Reform secured four seats, including Farage's, but more than 14 percent of the national vote.

The party's decision to run candidates in constituencies across the country, ignoring pleas to stand aside to avoid splitting the right-wing vote, inflicted huge damage on the now-ousted Tories.

They suffered a historic defeat to Labour after 14 years in government.

On Friday, after the scale of Labour's landslide became clear, local residents were still keen to sing Farage's praises.

"I am not happy about Labour forming a government but Farage getting four seats is brilliant," retiree David Hobbs said.

"The next election, watch out for Reform UK!" he said with a big smile.

The 70-year-old meets up with his friends every morning at the Moon & Starfish pub close to the Clacton seafront.

"We have to control immigration legal and illegal," he added.

The Clacton constituency, home to one of the oldest electorates in the country, also includes pockets of extreme deprivation and has high levels of economic inactivity.

Nearly 70 percent of Clacton voters backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, among the country's highest tallies.

- 'Fed up' -

"Thank you Clacton. This is just the beginning. The revolt against the establishment is underway," Farage wrote on X.

And he pledged not just to take votes from disaffected Conservative voters.

"We're coming for Labour, be in no doubt about that."

Barry Mulligan, who has coffee every day with Hobbs, said he also liked the fact that Farage was a friend of former US President Donald Trump.

He backed Farage's hardline views on immigration and grew visibly angry when he talked about the small boats packed with migrants which continue to arrive on the shores of southeast England.

"I'm not politically correct but the death penalty should be brought back for criminals," Mulligan added, while advocating extreme violent measures to stop the small boat crossings.

Carol Johnson, 77, normally a Conservative voter, told AFP she still had not forgiven the party of ousted former prime minister Rishi Sunak for the "Partygate" scandal in Downing Street during lockdown.

At the same time as politicians and officials were breaking the Covid rules by holding parties, Johnson said, she had been unable to visit her own daughter.

"We need a new party. We need some new life into what's going on at the moment," she said.

"People are getting fed up. There is a lot of distrust."

Johnson added that she liked Farage's "values", adding that he had the "right words" for the job.

Not everyone agreed. Another passer-by explained that he had always voted Labour and would never support Farage as his MP.

"People are so stupid to vote for this git," he said.

(B.Smith--TAG)