Hated and loved Mixed reaction to Reform's new leader in Clacton

Less than 24 hours after appointing himself Reform UK's leader and declaring his intention to stand for parliament, Nigel Farage rolled into his chosen seat of Clacton yesterday, promising to "stand up for the little guy" and to "be a bloody nuisance" to those in Westminster.

- Esther Addley

But an event in Clacton-on-Sea that started with the inevitable on-brand pint in the local Wetherspoon's concluded with a milkshake to the face, after a young woman flung the contents of a takeaway cup at Farage as he made his exit a couple of hours later. It summed up the mood of the day in the Essex resort, and the character of the man himself - at times genial, at times disturbingly divisive.

It was not the slickest of campaign launches, but to most of the crowd of several hundred who had gathered at midday at the end of the Essex town's pier, that was all part of Farage's charm. After leaving the Moon and Starfish pub, the politician had fought through a scrum of cameras and admirers to clamber on to a picnic table in front of the resort's slowly spinning big wheel, initially fielding heckles of "We can't hear you!" before an aide hoisted a tinny speaker on to his head, to cheers.

"Is this the most patriotic town in the whole country?" Farage bellowed. The crowd certainly thought so. "We love you Nigel!" shouted someone. "Up the Farage!" cried another.

His speech was a rattle through familiar Farage red meat: D-day, "the minds of our kids being poisoned". Was anyone present a GB News fan? (They were). Foreign workers were undercutting British wages. The Tories had failed on immigration. "Nothing works any more, does it?"

"What do I have to offer you? Well I can promise you that I do know one thing. That a woman can't have a penis! You won't get any woke PC nonsense from me!"