Farage was always going to win, but he also ended up losing, as this showed Reform to be weaker than it looked before the election. His vote count was basically the same as the last election with 22,239 yesterday compared to 21,225 in the 2024 election, even though he had no competition from the major parties. Count Binface was able to get 27% of the vote, similar to what the Conservative Party candidate received in 2024.

Farage wanted a huge mandate from the voters and got at best a tepid response and then he didn't even show up for the vote count and cancelled planned events. This was an embarrassment for him and reform and might mean a very likely future by-election could be much more competitive than it was before all of this.