00:00The leader of the British Anti-Immigration Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, won a special
00:05election on Friday, beating a field of fringe candidates to retain his seat in Parliament
00:11in a contest boycotted by the mainstream political parties.
00:14I will resign as a Member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea.
00:19Farage had abruptly resigned as a Member of Parliament in July, after scrutiny from
00:24a parliamentary investigation into whether he failed to declare a £5 million or $6.7
00:30million gift from a crypto-billionaire overseas.
00:34UK Parliament requires any newly elected lawmakers to declare gifts of more than £300 or $400
00:42received in the previous year, if they are related to political activities.
00:46Farage denied wrongdoing, claiming the money was a personal gift used to fund his security,
00:51and branding the scrutiny over the donation a media-driven witch-hunt.
00:56Farage said he had run again as MP for Clacton, the seat he had just quit, to prove he had
01:01the voter support, in a special election which had been widely mocked, with the UK's major
01:07political parties refusing to stand candidates, leaving Farage to instead compete against
01:12a massive field of 34 independent and small-party candidates.
01:16So, I asked the voters of Clacton to be my jury, and the verdict has now come in.
01:27And it is a convincing, overwhelming win with more votes.
01:34When his victory was announced at the official declaration, Farage was not among the candidates
01:39on stage to hear it. Instead, he was with supporters in Essex, having claimed the police had warned
01:44him there was an ongoing campaign to disrupt and degrade the result. A statement the police
01:50disputed.
01:52Despite his victory, Farage will still face scrutiny over the £5 million donation. Just
01:57hours after his victory, Parliament's standards commissioner announced that the investigation,
02:01which was suspended when he had quit, had been relaunched. If he's found to have breached
02:06Parliament's rules, then he could face a recall petition in Clacton, which may lead to another
02:11special election later this year, costing the British taxpayer hundreds and thousands of
02:16pounds more. The difference is, in that election, the other parties are likely to stand.
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