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Reform’s Zia Yusuf said he will be on the morning round tomorrow following Nigel Farage‘s by-election statement.

Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice accused opposition parties of “running scared” after they said they would not contest the Clacton by-election.

He told LBC: “All the other parties are running scared, they’re already talking about a second by-election.

“They are petrified, they’ve been hanging this over Nigel for weeks and weeks, saying he is going to face a by-election.

“He said yeah, bring it on, folks, bring it on, and he’s bringing it on, and all of a sudden they’re running for the hills, you can’t see them for dust.”

Nigel Farage rivals Alfred Hitchcock as an unparalleled master of drama and suspense. His midday announcement that he would make a statement on his “future in public life at 2pm” caused anyone who takes an interest in this country’s national life to sit bolt upright.

For two hours, speculation buzzed about whether he would take a step back from the political frontline. But when he stood before the cameras he signalled he is more determined that ever to wrest control of Britain from Labour and the Conservatives.

By triggering a by-election he will attempt to seize the limelight just when Andy Burnham would hope to enjoy a prime ministerial honeymoon. It is no surprise Labour will not field a candidate in Clacton for it would face humiliation.

Mr Burnham is likely to escape the test of a Labour leadership contest before moving into Number 10 but Mr Farage will daily deride him as a PM without a mandate and call for a general election.

Labour will not stand a candidate in the Clacton by-election triggered by Nigel Farage.

A spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage is engulfed in a sleaze scandal and he’s desperately trying to change the subject.

“It’s pathetic, and the Labour Party is not going to indulge it.

“Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, has decided not to stand a candidate in this circus.

“Instead, Labour will remain focused on delivering for working people and holding Reform to account.

“Farage should let the parliamentary investigation into his finances run its course and face the consequences.”

The Conservatives will not stand a candidate in the “fake” Clacton by-election triggered by Nigel Farage today, Kemi Badenoch has said.

The Tory leader said: “We will be standing a candidate in the real by-election, which will follow the standards investigation into Nigel Farage’s fishy finances.

“We will not be standing a candidate in the fake by-election that Farage is causing to distract people from what is happening.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged the Government to block Nigel Farage’s by-election until after the conclusion of the standards investigation into the Reform UK leader.

He said: “If this by-election does go ahead now, we are calling on all parties to stand aside and refuse to give oxygen to Farage’s vanity project.

“But the Government should just say no to Farage’s ego-trip and block his resignation until the Standards Commissioner has finished investigating him.

“The people of Clacton should have all the facts before they cast their votes.”

Reform MP Sarah Pochin said if other parties refuse to stand in the Clacton by-election it will show they are “scared” of Nigel Farage and “being held to account by the British people”.

Nigel Farage would win over 50% of the vote in the Clacton by-election, Lee Anderson has predicted.

The Reform MP told Times Radio: “The people care, the people of Clacton care about Nigel. I think he’s elected on about 46, 47 percent of the vote in Clacton in the last general election. I think at this general election he’s going to get over 50 percent of the vote. This will just reaffirm their support for Nigel Farage.”

“Nigel will win handsomely. We will go up in the polls again. He will give us another bounce and this will send shockwaves through the establishment. They are frightened to death. We hear now that the cowardly other parties might be refusing to stand candidates and there’s only one reason for that because they’re scared to death. They know what’s coming.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This latest distraction from the everyday issues real people are facing will have workers and communities holding their head in their hands.

“Everyday people are hurting and this latest pantomime does nothing to ease their pain.

“Nigel Farage is certainly no friend of the working class. A privately educated former banker who moved from trading in the City to trading in fear.

“The rise of Reform and Restore is down to the non-delivery of Labour.

“It is now time for Labour to deliver. This latest diversion must not distract from that.”

Rachel Reeves said: “He’s obviously trying to distract from the huge trouble that he is currently in around not declaring a whole range of donations and associations. He’s trying to distract from that, and we mustn’t let him.”

On whether Labour would field a candidate, the Chancellor added: “Let’s see what happens in terms of a by-election, but Labour would tend to stand candidates in by-elections.”

Rupert Lowe said Restore Britain will not stand in the by-election triggered by Nigel Farage’s resignation.

He said: “Restore Britain will stand in the Clacton by-election – the second one – held later this year, when the investigations into Farage’s finances conclude as we all suspect they will.

“We are not going to participate in a Reform-sponsored media circus over the summer months that is designed to puff up Farage’s ego and deflect away from wholly fair questions over why he has concealed such vast and irregular financial donations.

“Farage can play with his toys for the next six weeks but Restore Britain is going to continue producing detailed policy papers, exactly as we have been, outlining how we can fix our country.

“That is what I am interested in. Detail. Data. Policy. A plan. I feel for the people of Clacton who deserve so much better than this unnecessary sham forced on them throughout their summer.”

Kemi Badenoch has said her team was “exploring every avenue” about how the party would approach the Clacton by-election.

She told Politico Live: “What I’m focused on right now, and I’ve set my team on it, is how to make sure that we avoid wasting taxpayers’ money with two by-elections, and we’re exploring every avenue, so until that’s decided I’m not saying anything about what’s happening in Clacton.

“There should not be a by-election when the standards committee has not ruled, and the fact is, this doesn’t even stop the ruling.

“It doesn’t stop the ruling, it just pauses it. Perhaps at best it’s still going to happen, so he can run as much as he likes from the investigation, he cannot hide, and the people of Clacton, in my view, are going to take a pretty dim view of their MP wasting everybody’s time and money just because he’s having a hissy fit.”

Kemi Badenoch said Nigel Farage was having a “hissy fit” and “cracking under the pressure” after his by-election bombshell.

The Conservative leader told the Politico Live event: “There shouldn’t be a by-election on his terms.

“What there should be is a by-election if the investigation finds him guilty. Those are the rules.”

She said the Clacton MP should “man up and answer some questions” instead of triggering an “ego by-election”.

Sir Keir Starmer said the triggering of a by-election by Nigel Farage is “a desperate stunt” from a man “up to his neck in sleaze”.

The outgoing PM added: “Politics should be about improving the lives of millions of people, not about personal gain, not about hiding dodgy donations, and I think the public will see this for exactly what it is.”

A spokesperson for Andy Burnham said the by-election triggered by Nigel Farage was a “gimmick” to distract from the row about the Reform UK leader’s finances.

They said: “This is a gimmick designed to distract from serious allegations about Farage’s funders.

“What really matters in politics is how we can change Westminster to take power for communities and bring it back to people to make life more affordable for them.”

Nigel Farage said Reform UK is offering to pay for the Clacton by-election.

Robert Jenrick has said that the crunch Clacton by-election will be a “referendum on the future of our country”.

Reform’s Treasury spokesman told GB News: “You just heard a statement from the only true leader in this country right now, the only man who’s got the courage of his convictions, who will fix this country, who will bring about the radical change that the public actually want to see.

“And look, the people in the building behind me, the political establishment, the two old parties, or what remains of it, the media, they don’t get to decide who runs this country, they don’t get to play judge and jury and executioner, we live in a democracy. Nigel Farage is going to trust the people of Clacton and put himself forward in the by-election to come.

“This country is broken. It needs fundamental change. Nigel is the only man who’s capable of doing that, and if it takes a by-election, if it takes the people of Clacton, the great constituency of Clacton, who I know respect Nigel as their Member of Parliament, then so be it. We trust their judgement, and let’s see what happens.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will respond to Nigel Farage’s announcement shortly.

Sir Ed Davey called for Nigel Farage to fund the Clacton by-election himself.

The Liberal Democrat leader said: “Nigel Farage has spent his whole life dodging responsibility for his actions. This new stunt is his latest attempt to escape consequences for his biggest grift. We won’t let him.

“We have just sat through a self-obsessed diatribe delivered by a Temu Trump who seems to think he is sat in the Oval Office.

“He has done nothing for his constituents and instead focused on lining his own pockets. The people of Clacton deserve better than a rubbish Trump tribute act.

“It would be a crime to waste taxpayers’ hard-earned cash on this Farage vanity project. He should pay for it himself out of the millions he’s grifted.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said Nigel Farage was “a grifter brought down by his own grifting”.

He said: “Nigel Farage is once again trying to con the public with this stunt – trying to duck the fact that his history of taking dodgy donations is finally catching up with him.

“This is not Nigel Farage vs the establishment but the establishment’s man against truth, honesty and decency.”

Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf said Nigel Farage had “laid down the gauntlet to the establishment” with his sensational by-election announcement.

Have your say in our online poll on whether Nigel Farage is right to quit as an MP and trigger a by-election in Clacton, which he will stand in.

Labour chair Anna Turley took to X following Nigel Farage’s announcement.

Nigel Farage is quitting as Clacton’s MP to spark a by-election which he will fight.

He said: “The issue with my daughter was the final straw. Enough is enough. And I thought over the weekend, what shall I do? I could go out and try and make some real big money. I could go to the USA, where I’ve got plenty of offers. And then I thought, why should I be judged today, or in history in the future, by Sky News and their ilk?

“Why should they be the people that decide my fate? When, as I repeat, I have done nothing wrong.“I thought about it hard and I have decided today I will resign as a Member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea, thereby forcing a by-election, which should happen, I hope, in short order.

“Now I’ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions. This will be a people versus the establishment by-election. It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire Establishment to frankly tell them where to go, and that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election.

“I will fight to win. I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started, and I would say this to you, the voters of Clacton, if I win, you win, because if I lose, they win, and we will never with the two old parties get the type of fundamental change that we need to fix broken Britain.”

A furious Nigel Farage accused the press of harassing his family.

The Reform UK leader said: “For some reason, last week the editor of the Times newspaper decided to publish a picture of where my daughter lives.

“There is no public interest in my daughter whatsoever. She is not involved in current affairs, doesn’t seek to be involved in current affairs, and has never been used by me once at any point in my political career.

“No photographs on election addresses or anything like that, I’ve always done my absolute best to protect the privacy and safety of my family.

“By publishing that photograph, the editor of The Times has directly threatened her security… She now has broadcasters haranguing her.

“Sky News were one of them, and when I questioned them on it, they willfully and deliberately lied and said on their channel that they hadn’t contacted the family.

“Well, let me be clear. I will not tolerate intimidation of my family. I will not tolerate the location of where they live being revealed.

“I will not tolerate any of my family being endangered because of what I choose to do in public life, so yes, you can ask, am I angry? Well, I’ve never been angrier in my life.”

Sky has said it did not contact anyone from Mr Farage’s family about the story.

Nigel Farage said he will need security for the rest of his life which is why he is “grateful” to Christopher Harborne for his £5 million gift.

The Reform leader said: “I am going to need security for the rest of my life, and I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful I am to Christopher Harborne because I will never, ever need to worry about whether I’ve got the resource.”

Nigel Farage said: “For over 20 years now, I have been subject to constant demonisation by the press for daring to be outside the consensual view on many issues.

“I’ve been attacked again and again. I am the most physically and verbally attacked public figure or politician of modern times.

“Yes, you will know of some of the incidents, milkshakes thrown in my face, placards bashed over my head, but let me promise you, you only know about a fraction of the number of times that I’ve been assaulted.”

Nigel Farage said that without him “there would have been no referendum and there would have been no Brexit”.

Nigel Farage said: “Let me be absolutely clear, I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all.”

Nigel Farage said: “It seems to me the establishment have now decided they can’t beat us fairly so they’ve chosen to use foul means.”

Nigel Farage is kicking off his statement by listing some of Reform UK’s successes, including consistently leading national opinion polls and sweeping to victory in the May local elections.

Reform UK MPs Lee Anderson, Danny Kruger and Suella Braverman have been seen entering Reform’s headquarters in London without taking questions from media outside ahead of Nigel Farage’s speech.

In other news as we wait for Nigel Farage’s statement, Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Ankara for the Nato summit.

The trip to Turkey is his last major international engagement as Prime Minister.

Nigel Farage could “take a break” as leader of Reform UK to clear his name amid allegations over his finances.

But allies told The Independent that he “will not run away” amid speculation he is set to quit.

Nigel Farage spoke to us just two weeks ago about the impact returning to politics had on his life

There is speculation that Nigel Farage could quit as an MP to spark a by-election in Clacton which he would then fight to make a return to Parliament.

If he triggered the by-election today, it would lead to a vote on the same day as the Greater Manchester mayoralty ballot on 30 July.

It’s been suggested that this would halt any formal Parliamentary inquiries into Mr Farage’s financial support.

Nigel Farage reacted angrily when approached at an airport by a Sky News journalist asking whether it had been a mistake not to declare gifts from the ally.

“You tell your bosses, you harass my family any more… serious consequences. That’s what your organisation has done this morning. Go away,” he said.

Sky said it had not contacted anyone from Mr Farage’s family about the story.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch claimed Mr Farage had referred to the 2011-2012 Leveson inquiry into practices by journalists in response to questions from Sky News because he was considering curbing press freedoms.

Speaking at a rally in central London, Mrs Badenoch said: “What surprised me most was what he said, it was on Sky News, that he said this, where he was being asked questions, and then talked about Leveson.

“He’s hinting at press regulation.

“For all of the criticism and the attacks, and I would even say abuse, that I’ve got from the press, I never once recommended us curbing our free press.”

She added: “We should be worried about a Reform government using government power to control the press.”

The Reform leader on Sunday issued a statement saying he had not broken any rules.

Mr Farage appeared to have won the backing of US president Donald Trump in his fight against what the Reform leader called an “establishment hit job”.

Mr Farage said he has “done no wrongdoing” after The Sunday Times investigation into his ties with Mr Cottrell.

Mr Trump appeared to indicate his backing for Mr Farage.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the US leader shared a link to an article on The National Pulse website titled They’re Running The 2024 Anti-Trump Playbook on Nigel Farage.

Mr Trump personally called Mr Farage to congratulate him on his political success in achieving the removal of Sir Keir Starmer from No 10, The Times reported.

As well as Labour’s call for the elections watchdog to intervene, the Liberal Democrats have already demanded a parliamentary sleaze inquiry.

The Reform UK leader is under pressure following reports that long-term ally George Cottrell had provided funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected.

Labour has asked the Electoral Commission to investigate whether the support should have been declared because Mr Farage was a prominent figure in Reform even before he returned to frontline politics.

The party also questioned whether Montenegro-based Mr Cottrell was a permissible donor, claiming it was not clear whether he was on a UK electoral register at the time.

Mr Farage is already facing a parliamentary investigation over a £5m gift he received from Reform donor Christopher Harborne before he became an MP.

Liberal Democrate leader Sir Ed Davey said: “I hope it’s that you haven’t got one. You’ve caused more than enough damage already.”

The post on social media platform X is in response to a post by Nigel Farage saying he will make a statement about his future in public life at 2pm.

Nigel Farage is epected to make a statement about his future in public life at 2pm.

Kemi Badenoch’s soeech has now ended.

We’ll bring you analysis fro our reporter in the room, Aaron Newbury, soon.

Kemi Badenoch has defended the triple lock policy.

She says she believes in it because it is “the right thing to do”.

The triple lock means the rise will either match the rate of inflation, average earnings or 2.5% – whichever is highest

Kemi Badenoch has said it’s “very very slim pickings” when asked about who she thinks Andy Burnham should make Defence Secretary.

Kemi Badenoch says all foreign criminals need to be deported.

She says she would support third-party country deportations, like Rwanda.

There are no consequences for crimes, the Tory leader says.

She urges Andy Burnham to vote against the early release of prisoners at an Opposition Day vote later on Tuesday.

Vladimir Putin “doesn’t care how nationalised your buses are”, Kemi Badenoch said as she hit out at her political opponents for not focusing enough on defence spending.

The Conservative leader criticised both Reform UK’s Nigel Farage and prime minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham for their focus in recent weeks.

Reform UK is “completely distracted by their constant scandals and personal dramas”, Mrs Badenoch said, adding Mr Burnham had said “nothing” about defence after an encounter between British forces and a Russian plane in the Arctic.

Hitting out at Mr Burnham’s devolution policy, the Conservative leader said: “I don’t think that Vladimir Putin is going to be worried about Nigel Farage, I don’t think he’s going to be worried about Andy Burnham either.

“Putin doesn’t care how nationalised your buses are and he doesn’t care whether No 10 is in Manchester or London.”

The Tory leader is now taking questions from the press “unlike other party leaders”, Kemi Badenoch says.

Andy Burnham refused to take press questions after a speech last Monday in Manchester.

Andy Burnham’s big idea is to tax the south to fund the north, Kemi Badenoch says.

She says the “room for movement” that Andy Burnham sees on taxes is “not in the real world”.

Taking aim at various party leders, she says “silly season” is not for the people running the country.

Speaking at a rally in central London where she spoke about defence funding, Mrs Badenoch said: “Burnham wants a summer holiday, Farage is in hiding, Starmer is retiring.”

She added: “But all of this is happening right at the time when difficult decisions need to be made.

“Silly season is not for the people running the country. Britain needs some grown-ups in the room, but they don’t appear to be any outside the Conservative Party.”

Kemi Badenoch has offered to work with the next Prime Minister to work together to cut welfare and fund defence.

She jokes that the nect leader, who is likely to be Andy Burnham, won’t take her up on the offer.

Kemi Badenoch has accused Westminster of being “distracted”.

She says Prime Minister Keir Starmer is going to Turkey for NATO with an inadequate defence investment plan (DIP).

The Tory leader says the probems with the DIP hasn’t gone away just because Andy Burnham is “riding to their rescue”.

Kemi Badenoch has arrived on stage.

She begins by saying Sir Keir is jetting to the most important NATO summit in a generation because Russia could launch an attack on NATO as soon as 2030.

“This could put us in direct conflict with the world’s biggest nuclesr state”, she says.

Here’s a quick snapshot of people who will be standing behind Kemi Badenoch at her defence rally.

Our reporter Aaron Newbury is in the room and will be feeding analysis into the live blog from there.

Kemi Badenoch is due to speak this morning in central London.

She’ll be attacking Labour’s reform on defence at an event attended by members and MPs.

The Express is on site, and have already spotted James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, and Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake at the entrance to the speech.

Andrew Griffith and Andrew Bowie are also here, with more of the shadow cabinet and senior MPs expected.

Most of the attendees are Conservative Party members, who’ve been told they’re coming along to a “rally” with Kemi.

Donald Trump appeared to indicate his backing for Nigel Farage as the Reform UK leader continues to face intense scrutiny over financial support given to him by a convicted criminal.

The Clacton MP claimed he was the victim of an “establishment hit job” and has “done no wrongdoing” after The Sunday Times reported George Cottrell had provided funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the US President shared a link to an article on The National Pulse website titled They’re Running the 2024 Anti-Trump Playbook on Nigel Farage.

Under rules in place at the time of Mr Farage’s election in 2024, new MPs were required to register any gifts worth more than £300 they received in the previous 12 months, except where the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.

Mr Cottrell reportedly recruited and paid three staff to work on Mr Farage’s social media before the general election, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian property he rented near Buckingham Palace.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for Parliament’s standards commissioner, who is already investigating a £5 million gift the MP received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne, to examine the support.

Kemi Badenoch could be asked about the World Cup when reporters quiz her at a defence rally later on Tuesday morning.

She said on Monday night that she would probably not back a bank holiday if England wins the World Cup, arguing the “private sector would still be working and the public sector would take the day off”.

Asked whether she would support a bank holiday if the Three Lions win the tournament, the Tory leader told a Politics UK event: “Probably not, still.

“Sadly, we all know what would happen with a bank holiday – the private sector would still be working and the public sector would take the day off, and you’d all have to pay for it.

“This Conservative Party is very much about common sense. Party hard but work hard too, that is my motto.”

The UK risks being cut off from vital technology such as artificial intelligence models at the “whim” of leaders like Donald Trump unless British alternatives can be developed, MPs have warned.

The Trump administration’s restrictions on Anthropic’s advanced AI models showed the UK “may not be able to count on even its allies for access to vital technology”, the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee said.

The Labour-led committee said the Government had failed to set out a clear plan for using the UK’s world-class science and research to secure its diplomatic goals.

With Andy Burnham expected to replace Sir Keir Starmer in No 10 later this month, committee chairwoman Dame Chi Onwurah said: “I hope the incoming administration will learn from the mistakes of its predecessors and move quickly to create a clear plan for how it will work internationally on science and technology.

“Without this, we risk falling even further behind in the global race for science and technology capability, undermining our economic prosperity and national security.”

In June, the US government banned foreign access to Anthropic’s most powerful Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models over national security concerns.

Defence secretary Dan Jarvis made a last minute change to the defence investment plan to make sure Britain joined an American ballistic missile programme after talks with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Jarvis, a former paratrooper, later managed to secure £1.5 billion extra for defence from Sir Keir Starmer and decided to invest £190 million of it in acquiring the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), from a programme rejected by his predecessors who wanted to back British firms instead.

In her speech the Conservative Party leader is expected to attack the £5 billion black hole in the defence investment plan.

Mrs Badenoch will warn that “we’re supposed to pretend that isn’t happening” and blast Labour MPs saying: “Labour haven’t realised that the problems with that Defence Investment Plan have not gone away just because Andy Burnham is riding to the rescue.”

Mr Burnham, who is widely expected to become the next Prime Minister uncontested, “doesn’t appear to have said anything about the threats we face.”

And she will say: “Britain has received intelligence that Russia could launch at attack on NATO as soon as 2030.

“This development would put Britain in direct conflict with the world’s biggest nuclear armed state.

“We could not be facing a more serious situation.”

Kemi Badenoch is due to warn that Keir Starmer is heading to the “most important NATO summit in a generation.”

In a major speech this morning the Conservative Party leader is expected to hit out at intelligence which suggests the Russians could attack the alliance as soon as 2030.

“This is a critical moment in our national history,” she will say as Mrs Badenoch warns that only the Conservative Party is taking national security seriously.

Kemi Badenoch has accused Andy Burnham of having no plan to defend Britain, warning that Vladimir Putin “won’t be worried” about the incoming prime minister. The Tory leader said the Russian tyrant doesn’t care whether No 10 is in Manchester or London – just what our response is if he launches an attack.

Mrs Badenoch will use a speech on Tuesday to warn that global conflicts and uncertainty means the UK “could not be facing a more serious situation”. She will also lash out at Sir Keir Starmer’s £15billion Defence Investment Plan as being “not fit for purpose”. Her attack comes as Sir Keir jets off to Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit – his last as Prime Minister.

Read more from Martyn Brown, here.

Kemi Badenoch has taken aim at the “latest scandal” hitting Nigel Farage.

Speaking last night she warned that her party was getting ready for “any eventuality”, including a potential by-election in his seat of Clacton.

The news came after Mr Farage was the subject of a news story which reported he had not declared donations taken before he became an MP.

Mrs Badenoch warned that “if [Farage] ever got in […] It would just be this over and over again, things not being reported, endless scandals, and I just think that it would be chaos.”

Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch will deliver a major speech on defence this morning.

It comes as the outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is due to jet off to NATO just days after it was exposed that his defence plans were not fully funded.

Sir Keir released his defence investment plan (Dip) last week, which was more than £10bn less than officials had asked for, and included a £5bn ‘black hole’ which needed to come from future budgets.