James McMurdoch won Essex in a closely contested election that lasted until three recounts were ordered long after the rest of the UK general election had finished.
“He’s won! He’s an MP! Go for it son!” jubilant Nigel Farage said after James McMurdoch was declared winner in a hotly contested seat on Friday afternoon, giving the Reform Party an unexpected further victory.
McMurdoch won South Basildon and East Thurrock with 12,178 votes, just ahead of Labour’s 12,080. The Conservatives also performed well in the close three-way race, coming up just short with 10,159 votes.
🚨BREAKING: James McMurdoch wins South Basildon and East Thurrock! pic.twitter.com/gNxr4AffAx
— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) July 5, 2024
Following his victory, Mr Farage said McMurdoch was a “paper candidate” – a candidate who ran only formally with no chance of winning and no money being put into the campaign – and that his team consisted of just him and his parents. Nevertheless, Mr McMurdoch, a “former city boy” who had worked in banking and financial services, was “fully even with Labour” and the vote was close until the very end.
Local Newspaper Basildon Echo Reports Parliament was initially set to announce the result by the early hours of this morning, but suspicions emerged that Labour had made serious counting errors when it was just a few hundred votes away, and a full recount was ordered.In the end, the entire election was recounted three times, after each result was challenged.On Friday afternoon, as the final tally was underway, Mr Farage said he was growing uneasy about the urgency of the result.
Donald Trump congratulates Nigel Farage on his ‘huge victory’ in the UK elections https://t.co/P1rTokgnai
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 5, 2024
