{"id":580155,"date":"2026-07-11T09:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T09:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/580155\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T09:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T09:23:16","slug":"weary-clacton-repels-media-hordes-as-jaywick-shines-on-in-farages-byelection-stronghold-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/580155\/","title":{"rendered":"Weary Clacton repels media hordes as Jaywick shines on in Farage\u2019s byelection stronghold \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is yet another coastal invasion of outsiders to vex locals. The train from London arrives at 10.44am on Wednesday to disgorge half of Westminster\u2019s lobby of political journalists on to the platform at heat-drenched Clacton-on-Sea.<\/p>\n

A day before, Reform UK<\/a>\u2019s Nigel Farage<\/a> resigned as the local MP and called a byelection in his Essex constituency of Clacton on the North Sea coast, 130km northeast of London. The eponymous town of more than 100,000 is the constituency\u2019s main one, sandwiched between the other villages of Jaywick and Frinton.<\/p>\n

The populist leader had aimed to get ahead of a row over \u00a35 million of undeclared donations that, if parliamentary authorities rule against him, could force a byelection anyway. He wants to get in first with his own \u201cpeople versus the establishment\u201d battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I lose, they win. If they win, you lose,\u201d said Farage, who hadn\u2019t foreseen that his main political rivals would boycott the race, leaving him to battle Count Binface.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, few winners are discernible as a swarm of sweaty hacks fans out on Clacton promenade armed with mics to assail any locals making eye contact. Sighing denizens of this seaside town of faded Victorian glory can\u2019t even enjoy a morning coffee without being grilled about the latest political furore to grip Britain.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe big wheel near Clacton pier. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

\u201cOh God, not this again,\u201d says the kind older lady serving at the Old Market Cafe. If Farage is a political ringmaster, then this is his circus.<\/p>\n

Pier Avenue in between Magic City and Gaiety Amusements is like a journalistic salmon weir, a pinch point for preying lobby hacks waiting like grizzly bears for locals trying to leap past. The journalists are easily identifiable as the only lunatics not in shorts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch out, this one\u2019s from the Sun,\u201d says a vox pop-allergic woman, laughing, to her pal across the street. She nods towards a sheepish-looking young man incongruously clad in shirt and slacks.<\/p>\n

Clacton\u2019s community Facebook groups warn facetiously of the media \u201cinvasion\u201d. One post notes, however, that \u201cat least Nigel put us on the map\u201d. It gets many likes.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe BBC’s Nomia Iqbal filming a live shot on the roof of Clacton Pier’s toilets. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

The BBC broadcasts from a terrace on the roof of the toilets overlooking Clacton Pier, a neon-flashing fun farm comprising acres of English seaside holiday nostalgia.<\/p>\n

Just beyond sits an offshore wind farm built to hit the net-zero targets now so derided by Farage\u2019s party. Elderly locals and visitors to this Reform UK stronghold now sit on pier benches, licking ice-creams and watching the turbine blades spinning on the horizon.<\/p>\n

The BBC journalist on the terrace is Nomia Iqbal, doing a live piece to camera. A pair of older men leaning on a railing watch on from nearby like a mini studio audience. After she wraps up, The Irish Times corners both men. Aged in their 60s, they don\u2019t want to give names but are distinguishable by their hats.<\/p>\n

Farage is generally popular in the heavily Brexit-voting town of Clacton, but not with these two. The man in the straw cowboy hat has \u201cno time for him\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called this byelection because he doesn\u2019t want to deal with the issues. Man of the people? Yeah, one who just happened to be a commodities broker.\u201d<\/p>\n

His companion in a baseball cap says locals think Farage rarely shows up in the constituency. \u201cIf he gets voted in again, I just won\u2019t understand it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The town of Clacton has pockets of deprivation but, with its ever-so-slightly dog-eared charm, it is quite buzzy in summer. Frinton is a rung or two higher up the economic ladder, while Jaywick is a few below.<\/p>\n

I ask about the main issues in Clacton. Cowboy Hat says \u201cthere are so many problems nationally, like immigration<\/a>, it is hard to focus on any locally\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do need more support for local people with mental health issues,\u201d says Baseball Cap. \u201cSome of them who are also homeless are just abandoned in B&Bs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there\u2019s Jaywick,\u201d says his friend. \u201cWhat has Farage ever done for it? It is ranked the second-most deprived part of England after some place in Suffolk.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is almost right. Jaywick, 2.5km further up the beach, is actually listed by officials from the UK\u2019s ministry of housing right at the top of its \u201cEnglish index of deprivation\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Count Binface: The \u2018independent space warrior\u2019 hoping to take Farage\u2019s seat in ClactonOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The area has openly apparent economic and social problems: Channel 5 filmed a reality television show here called Benefits-by-the-Sea. Yet locals, angered by constant media stigmatisation, are also outspoken about Jaywick\u2019s burgeoning community spirit.<\/p>\n

The rest of the lobby has gone back to London. The sunny sky is still azure blue and the beach below looks inviting, so I stroll the promenade west from Clacton towards Jaywick.<\/p>\n

On the border between the two I pass a fine housing development, Martello Bay, named after nearby towers.<\/p>\n

Before it was redeveloped as a residential quarter, this was the site of Clacton\u2019s old Butlins holiday camp. Its demolition in the mid-1980s heralded the end of Clacton\u2019s economic heyday as a tourism hub. For flood-prone Jaywick down the beach, which was effectively an overspill holiday home spot, it spelled disaster.<\/p>\n

\"AA scooter business in Jaywick. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

Jaywick\u2019s main street, Broadway, is a smattering of small businesses of varying degrees of economic vibrancy. A sports car in multicoloured reflective paint sits outside a Middle Eastern barbers \u2013 it was an off-licence until recently. Next door is a community drop-in centre. Late afternoon karaoke kicks off at Never Say Die, a hopping local pub.<\/p>\n

I call to community activist and local celebrity, Danny Sloggett, an evangelist for his beloved Jaywick, which comprises row after row of old holiday homes repurposed as some of the cheapest housing in England \u2013 some houses cost less than \u00a380,000.<\/p>\n

Sloggett (51), with infectious warmth and humour, is a builder who starred in Benefit-by-the-Sea. He is a social media star through his Sloggett Vision on Facebook and YouTube. He is also an ex-prisoner who reformed his life. He hates Jaywick\u2019s \u201cdeprived\u201d tag.<\/p>\n

I call to his house the day of his son Leonardo\u2019s first birthday party. We climb a ladder to his \u201cwatch tower\u201d, a sun-filled wooden terrace built above the porch.<\/p>\n

\"DannyDanny Sloggett, a community activist and local evangelist for the merits of Jaywick, the part of Farage’s constituency that the UK government says is the ‘most deprived’ neighbourhood in England. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have lived in Jaywick for 40 years if we wasn\u2019t fantastic,\u201d says Sloggett, who finds it hard to sit still, such is his enthusiasm for his pro-Jaywick gospel. <\/p>\n

His catchphrase, \u201cshine on\u201d, peppers the conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get a bad rep from society. They look down on us. We get this label [most deprived town] each year. How are we deprived? The people who make up these statistics, they are not even from Jaywick. They don\u2019t come here, ever. How do they know we\u2019re that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argues that Jaywick is ahead \u201cin other ways\u201d. As we talk, he decides to live stream our chat on Sloggett Vision to his social media followers.<\/p>\n

Suddenly my interview has turned into his. \u201cShine on,\u201d he says, beaming, thumbs up towards his iPhone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say in the media that we are so poor, but in real life we are so rich in community spirit. If someone in Jaywick is hungry, if they put a post on social media, within a few hours they\u2019ve got a house full of food. If someone\u2019s television breaks, we go and fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sloggett argues that \u201cpeople with less are better people … People with more look down on each other\u201d.<\/p>\n

Before reforming his life, he served eight prison terms by the age of 21 for petty crimes such as stealing a washing machine.<\/p>\n

He moved to Jaywick as a child but his mother died when he was a teen. Sloggett\u2019s father, originally from Shepherd\u2019s Bush in London, helped him straighten out. After his final prison stint, they worked as builders together. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy Dad believed in me. When someone believes in you, you can change your life. The people who live in Jaywick, believe in Jaywick. It\u2019s the people who don\u2019t, who work in government, those in suits [who use] statistics. They use Jaywick for their own needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argues that Jaywick just lacks funding and investment, and needs help to rebuild its tourism infrastructure: \u201cIf Butlins had remained open, Jaywick would have remained the holiday hotspot it always was. We are waiting for casinos, a harbour, a marina, hotels, jobs. We are waiting to take over the world. Shine on!\u201d<\/p>\n

What about Farage? Has he done anything for Jaywick? As we talk, the Reform UK leader is on the far side of town in the Three Jays pub, recording video clips.<\/p>\n

\u201cJaywick has been left behind for many years and we don\u2019t see many politicians here. It\u2019s about time we met Farage. It\u2019s about time someone put us on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NigelNigel Farage campaigns in Jaywick in 2024. Photograph: Ben Stansall\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Does Farage show his face much in what the statistician\u2019s argue is \u201cEngland\u2019s most deprived neighbourhood\u201d in the heart of his constituency?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard he\u2019s been here once or twice. I did offer to take him around Jaywick, but he was very busy. I met his team when he first got elected. I told them I\u2019d show Nigel around, because I run, like, a youth club for adults, the Jaywick Sands Happy Club.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club puts on entertainment shows, but also holds regular meetings of the community in a local church hall. A local independent councillor, Dan Casey, attends.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the month, people send me messages about potholes, fly-tipping, dog s**t, all the problems. I write them all down in my book. When Dan Casey comes, I read them all out to him and he answers each one individually. This gives Jaywick a voice,\u201d says Sloggett.<\/p>\n

One of his friends, George, arrives with a birthday card for Leonardo. Sloggett shouts down to him from the watch tower to tell The Irish Times about the community spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want anything done here, the residents do it themselves. We waited 14 years for the council to refurbish a derelict memorial garden [for a fatal 1953 flood]. We fixed it ourselves, dug it, made it accessible for mobility scooters, planted it,\u201d says George.<\/p>\n

Sloggett says he voted for Farage because he is \u201chope for change\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do like him, the way he is changing the norms of politics. For years it was [Tory] blue or [Labour] red. Neither helped us. If Farage can give us change, I\u2019d take that. I\u2019d vote for a banana, a raspberry. I\u2019d vote for a yellow submarine if it got things done in Jaywick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sloggett says he \u201cwants more\u201d from Farage.<\/p>\n

Afterwards I stroll through Broadlands, the most economically challenged part of the area. Some house are neat and tidy, some are not. Ads for a plethora of local events wallpaper a community noticeboard.<\/p>\n

\"FlagsFlags in Jaywick pay tribute to Henry Nowak and taunt prime minister Keir Starmer. Photograph: Mark Paul <\/p>\n

English flags of St George\u2019s fly all over, but then again, there is a World Cup on. One is emblazoned with a handwritten slogan \u201cRIP Henry Nowak\u201d, the white teenager who died in handcuffs in Southampton after his Sikh murderer lied that he\u2019d been racially abused.<\/p>\n

I return to Clacton that night. Few want to talk about Farage in the local Wetherspoons, the Moon and Starfish. It\u2019s late. I retire to a traditional seaside B&B, the Sandrock. Next morning, Denise, the proprietor, serves breakfast to the blow-in in shirt and slacks.<\/p>\n

She says journalists from across the world have stayed here ever since Farage was elected in 2024: \u201cThey are fascinated with him all over. I think he has shot himself in the foot this time. But he definitely has his charms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time for the train. I leave media-assailed Clacton, Frinton and Jaywick to shine on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is yet another coastal invasion of outsiders to vex locals. The train from London arrives at 10.44am…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,20567,20566,7,8,20565,393,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-580155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-nigel-farage","tag-reform-uk","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116900620402147628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}