It happened sometime on Monday morning, locals think, though no one seems to know exactly when. But as staff in the shops on Old Road in Clacton stepped out of work for lunch, they spotted that the billboard on the corner of Crossfield Road had been ripped to ribbons.
Plenty had approved of the poster, placed there by the political campaign group Led By Donkeys, drawing attention to the huge scale of the local MP Nigel Farage’s earnings outside politics. A photo of the billboard posted on X by the group has 24,000 likes.
But someone – presumably a fan of the Reform leader – objected to the poster being stuck up in the Essex town. As one supportive comment (among many) on a local Facebook page under the same image put it: “Leave the man alone, we need him.”
Two and a half months after he was elected, Britain’s most popular, best-paid and most divisive MP is still provoking strong emotions in Clacton – many of which remain firmly positive. “I think there’s a lot of support for him because people like him,” said Jenny, a youthful octogenarian who was walking her small dog Milo near her home.
Though she tutted at the vandalism of the poster – as well as the amount of dog poo in the street – she was untroubled by its message that Farage made an additional £130,000 in his first month as an MP. “I don’t really understand things like that. I voted for him because of his beliefs. I think what he said is true,” she said. Which beliefs in particular? “Immigration has got to be thought more of. You can’t keep bringing people in.”
“Don’t they all have second jobs?” shrugged Sharon Gittings, a recently retired operations manager who had switched to Reform in July after a lifetime voting Conservative. “I’m just hoping he will be good for Clacton. We could do with someone who brings attention to the town.”
Which is not to say everyone agrees or approves of the MP’s record so far. Farage has held no local surgeries to date and has not yet set up an office in the constituency. Beyond a bald Clacton Reform email address (he also has a parliamentary profile page), he has published no specific guidance on how to get in touch on local matters, and some residents say they have tried repeatedly to reach him without success.
“I have emailed him on both his addresses four times requesting confirmation of when he will hold a clinic in Clacton, so I can get an appointment to speak to him,” wrote one constituent in a letter to the Daily Mail. “I have not received even an automated reply.”
Even among those in the constituency who are warm to the MP, there is much debate about how much time Farage has actually spent there – not least given his three visits to the US since the general election. (Next week he will address a “capitalist summit” in Kuala Lumpur; Reform says this is a long-term diary commitment and will take place during parliamentary recess.)
Farage said this week that he spent “a couple of days every week” in his constituency and was in the process of buying a house there. “Well, that would be good then,” said Paul Estall, a former pub manager who now works in education. “If you have been elected you need to be available, even if it’s by phone. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
One thing the MP has been eager to trumpet in his social media and targeted local Facebook ads is his response to a fire in the deprived Clacton suburb of Jaywick, in which five tiny, timber-framed houses were gutted. Farage has tweeted about the fire, mentioned it in his column in the Clacton Gazette and recorded a slick video showing him visiting local fire stations to thank those who put it out.
But some of those affected by the 8 August fire are unimpressed with the MP’s response. The Guardian spoke to Claire Fitzpatrick, who along with her partner and five children was made homeless when the blaze engulfed her house. Fitzpatrick’s seven-year-old fled the flames, and the family have been given emergency accommodation in a hotel in Clacton.
Farage visited the scene several days after the fire, when by chance Fitzpatrick’s partner was there. She said the MP “shook his hand and said ‘I promise I will help’. We gave him my mobile number and we’ve heard nothing back from him. I emailed him and heard nothing.”
Fitzpatrick said she knew housing was the responsibility of the local Tendring district council rather than the MP. “I don’t expect him to pull a house out of his arse. But help me with some advice. Go to the council. He’s on about the Jaywick fire all the time. Why have you not met me then personally? Why have you not talked to me?” she said. “He’s using my misfortune for his publicity.”
Jaywick is a fiercely tight-knit and supportive community and local businesses have rallied to the family’s aid, providing clothing and funds to help Fitzpatrick buy an air fryer and bottled water, given the family have no cooking facilities and have been told not to drink from the hotel taps, according to Fitzgerald.
Many local people believe Farage “got his seat and disappeared”, said Aaron Taylor, who runs the Sun Spa tanning salon and was briefly hospitalised after helping to evacuate homes during the fire. “We’re talking about people who can do a lot. They’re not doing a lot.”
Bradley Thompson, an independent councillor who also chairs the local community forum and food bank, said he had repeatedly asked local Reform representatives for a meeting with Farage to discuss local issues, without success. “[Farage] could be here more. He could engage with the residents and the council more. Stop going in pubs for a photo opportunity but get his hands dirty,” he said.
According to Reform, Farage is partly a victim of his own high profile. A spokesperson said the “sheer volume” of inquiries Farage had received “puts him in a different category to most MPs, given the fact that his constituents have actually heard of him”. Farage and his team were working through thousands of items of correspondence “as quickly as they can”, he said, and were holding Zoom and phone consultations until an office for in-person surgeries could be set up.
Back at Old Road, meanwhile, local people can expect the billboard to be restored shortly. Led By Donkeys has hired it for six months, and told the Guardian: “We were about to repaste it with an updated version anyway, to reflect … the cash Farage took from second jobs in August. New poster with new numbers going up soon.”