I’m rich – defend me, be happy for me, says Farage to poor voters in Clacton. They are just his collateral damage | John Harris

The Reform UK leader’s ruse to head off scrutiny by forcing a byelection may work, but it’s all about him: no one else gains anything from it Most people who closely follow British politics probably know the basics about Jaywick, an enclave of Clacton, on the Essex coast. A sprawling tangle of tracks, paths and old holiday shacks repurposed as permanent homes, it has been ranked as England’s poorest area several times since 2011, most recently in October last year. I first visited in 2014, during the byelection campaign that would see the former Tory Douglas Carswell – remember him? – chosen a

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