Badenoch says Tories won’t stand in ‘fake’ Clacton byelection, but will in likely recall one over Farage’s ‘fishy finances’ – UK politics live

According to The Guardian, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage plans to quit as an MP and then stand again in Clacton, saying the constituency's voters "should be the judges of my actions." Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called that byelection "fake" and said her party won't contest it, though she signaled the Tories would stand in any recall election tied to what she called Farage's "fishy finances" and gifts from donor George Cottrell. Badenoch added that whether the parliamentary standards commissioner should investigate those gifts is a matter for the commissioner. She also warned she would be worried about a Reform government using state power to control the press, saying she has never recommended curbing Britain's free press despite her own criticism from it.

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