On his eighth attempt to enter Parliament, Reform leader Nigel Farage took the seat of Clacton, defeating the Conservative incumbent and gaining a majority of 8,405.
The constituency, on the east coast of England, voted strongly in favour of Brexit and twice returned Douglas Carswell after he defected from the Conservatives to UKIP in 2014.
Speaking from the count, Mr Farage, who only became party leader and announced his candidacy last month, said what the campaign had achieved in such a short space of time was “truly extraordinary”.
“It’s not just disappointment with the Conservative Party. There is a massive gap on the centre right of British politics and my job is to fill it,” he said.
