Is Clacton ready for Farage's 'free spirit' girlfriend Laure Ferrari? (2024)

Nigel Farage's girlfriend Laure Ferrari was by his side through the night as he romped home in Clacton-on-Sea on his eighth attempt to become an MP.

Laure wore a white dress andan iridescent turquoise lamé mac that matched the colour of the Reform logo as both enjoyed a glass of fizz at a victory party on the Essex riviera.

The party leader won in the seaside town in the early hours after Reform beat the Toriesto finish second in a string of constituencies and won three other seats.

And by his side throughout the night was Laure, who first met her Brexiteer beau in 2007 when he wasa MEP in Brussels and shewaited tablesin a Strasbourg restaurant.

But one former associate of Mr Farage claimed today: 'Nigel will hate being an MP. He has no interest in casework. And knowing what Laure was like in Brussels, I feel sorry for the people of Clacton. All she did was go to lunch'.

Until now, Mr Farage's 'secret weapon' and long-term girlfriend, who is15 years his junior, stayed away from his late campaign dash in Essex and around the country.

But behind the scenes she has been secretly whipping the Reform leader into shape by ordering him to cut back on the pints, cigarettes and lose some weight.

Mr Farage, who won the Clacton seat with 21,225 votes compared to the Tories' 12,820, said he and his party hadsparked a political earthquake that marks the 'beginning of the end' for the Tory party.

He told reporters: 'This is just the first step, I set out with a goal to win millions of votes, to get a bridgehead in Parliament and that's what we've done so I'm very pleased.'

Asked where the Reform movement goes from here, he said: 'Forwards rapidly, very rapidly. I mean, look, I've got some things to do, I've got to professionalise it, I've got to democratise it, I've got to get rid of a few idiots that found it too easy to get on board. They will all go, they will all go, this will be a non-racist, non-sectarian party. Absolutely and I give my word on that.'

On the Conservative Party, Mr Farage added: 'They've been around for 190 years. They've been amazingly resilient. But this could be, I think this is the beginning of the end of the Conservative Party.'

Like the Reform leader's two ex-wives, Laure has kept a low profile but there was shock when she decided to appear on live TV in front of millions to meet her partner, 15 years her senior, after he came third inI'm a Celebritylast December.

But in recent months Laure and Nigel posed on the red carpet as they attended the Inspiration Awards For Women 2024 in London and did the same at a polo event at the end of May.

There was shock when Ms Ferrari was one of those flown out to Australia ahead of the show's finale which saw reality starSam Thompsontake the crown and boxer Tony Bellew finish second. Some claimed Nigel was shocked herself.

Mr Farage and Ms Ferrari have been together since 2017 - after they were spotted at his London home after he moved out of the family home in Kent and dancing together at a Brexitanniversary party.

Despite the yawning gap in their ages and roles, Ms Ferrari told MailOnline before her trip to the jungle last year: 'I was first attracted to Nigel's values as a man. He has loyalty, empathy and never breaks his promises. I find that very attractive.'

She has also been credited with helping Nigel lose weight and get healthier - mainly through cutting down on pints and cigarettes - although not completely.

They first met in 2007, when Nigel was a MEP in Brussels.

Laure began working for Mr Farage and fellow Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom after meeting them in the Strasbourg restaurant where she waited tables.

Describing what happened, she said previously: 'I met these two MEPs and we started talking about politics.

'The two Brits have no hierarchy and neither of them comes from a political background.'

In June 2013, Miss Ferrari posted on Twitter a link to a newspaper feature asking 'Why do more women want to bed Nigel Farage over David Cameron?'

But it was only four years later that their working relationship became romantic - and more political.

She was originally Mr Bloom's parliamentary assistant then head of public relations to a European Parliament grouping led by Mr Farage, and was a candidate for a small Right-wing party known as Debout la République (Arise The Republic) at European elections in 2014.

The party, later renamed Debout la France, was one of ten nationalist parties that make up the ADDE group, which was set up in 2014 by Ukip and funded by the European Parliament.

In March 2015, she was elected as executive director for the ADDE's think tank, the IDDE.

The two organisations shared an office in Brussels but Ms Ferrari moved to London, setting up a consultancy firm from an address in Clapham.

Ms Ferrari then spoke alongside Ukip politicians and other Brexit campaigners at public events in Dorset and Norfolk ahead of the EU referendum in 2016.

In 2017 she was spotted staying with Mr Farage, but he said they were friends.

The new Reform leader said he was giving Miss Ferrari 'short-term help' with her accommodation because she had nowhere else to go and needed money.

Asked if he had slept with her, he said: 'I'm not answering ludicrous questions, like have you ever held her hand, ever had dinner with her.

'She is someone I have worked with and known well for a long time who wanted somewhere to stay for a week that wouldn't cost her any money. It's a working relationship. You can inflate it however you want to.'

But that working relationship turned to romance.

Born in 1979 and raised in Epinal in North-East France, Miss Ferrari moved 90 miles to study English at the University of Strasbourg, and then spent two more years there doing a master's in communications.

After her studies, she took out a bank loan and opened a clothes shop in Strasbourg called Urban Flavor, as 'I couldn't see myself working for someone else'.

But the business did not flourish and financial difficulties led her to work as a waitress in the evenings - where she met her now partner.

Mr Farage's partners have largely kept a low profile.

In a rare interview his German-born second wife Kirsten Farage spoke out to deny he is racist, insisting he does not have a 'bad bone in his body' and the accusation 'hurts him'.

'If he was a racist I wouldn't be with him. I don't think he has got a nasty bone in his body – he is not a bully, he likes things done properly,' she said.

Mrs Farage added: 'It hurts him being personally attacked but it doesn't make me feel uncomfortable because I know he is not a racist.'

Mrs Farage, who is notoriously publicity shy, broke her silence in 2016 to paint the father of four as a dutiful family man who enjoys watching Dad's Army, though she admitted he was often so busy that they only saw him on television.

She told the Daily Telegraph her husband's 'hectic' lifestyle – in which he drank and smoked too much, skipped meals and lived on adrenalin – made her fear for his health.

Hamburg-born Kirsten kept a very low profile and was rarely seen in public. At Ukip conferences, she sat anonymously in the audience.

She worked from home and rarely visited Ukip's HQ in London's Mayfair, which she described as a 'freak show'.

Eight months after he was seen with Laure at a London property,Nigel Farage's wife of 18 years moved out of the family home in Kent.

Friends said it was a sign that he was 'getting serious' with Ms Ferrari.

In his early 20s Nigel Farage had the first of several brushes with death, when he was run over by a car in Orpington, Kent, after a night in the pub.

He sustained severe injuries and doctors feared he would lose a leg.

But it would also lead to marriage and two children.

Mr Farage was treated by a nurse called Grainne Hayes - who became his first wife.

He had two sons with Ms Hayes, who are both now grown up.

After splitting with Ms Hayes he married German-born bond trader Kirsten Mehr in 1999.

She and Mr Farage met in Frankfurt in 1996, while he was travelling on business - and still married to his first wife.

Of the moment he met Kirsten, he once said: 'She was a stunning government bond broker whose brisk efficiency at first sight belied her ethereal appearance. She could have stepped into a pre-Raphaelite painting no questions asked.'

Later, he explained in typically flamboyant style: 'My marriage, which had been on ice and torpid with its claws bound for so long we had both forgotten it was alive at all, finally expired.'

The couple divorced in 1997 and Mr Farage married Kirsten in 1999. They have two children.