A giant English flag dangles over the highway about two miles outside Clacton. More flutter in the sunshine from lamp posts and in front gardens across this Essex seaside resort in the southeast of the country. Aptly, I’m visiting on St. George’s Day, which celebrates the patron saint of England — whose flag featuring a red cross on a white background has become a shibboleth for a patriotism that borders on jingoism.
Many of these St. George crosses weren’t hung to mark the holiday, but are instead a more permanent symbol of Clacton’s politics: It’s here that Nigel Farage finally won a seat in Parliament, on his eighth try, two years ago. Next week he hopes the entire county of Essex will follow suit, ejecting the mainstream opposition Conservatives, who have dominated the council for decades.
Around half of U.K. voters, including 1.4 million in Essex alone, are eligible to take part in local and regional elections seen as a key test of both Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party and Farage’s hopes of replacing him as prime minister. Farage’s Reform U.K. party’s plan to form a national government starts with using these elections to eclipse the Conservatives and establish the party as the dominant force on the right, before kicking on to take the fight to Labour. Essex will be crucial in that ambition.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.