Now Farage has won his by-election, we can ask: what was the point of that?

Nigel Farage on his way to vote in the Clacton election (Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images) As the Clacton by-election dragged on for the past two weeks, one classic football clip from the early 2000s kept coming back to me. Michael Owen pumps his fists and yells ‘get in there!’ after smashing a penalty kick past a young goalkeeper, prompting Neville Southall to mutter: ‘Well done, he’s 13.’ Nigel Farage chose to trigger a by-election in one of the country’s most Reform-friendly seats. He reportedly spent £10,000 on advertising in the constituency, and pulled volunteers from the Greater Manchester mayoral race to campaign for him. And he managed to secure a majority of just under 13,000 votes against Count Binface. Perhaps we need Southall to pat him on the back and say: ‘Well d