Reform intend, I am told, to get on with the by-election as quickly as possible.
They will crack on with the parliamentary formalities immediately.
This will mean Farage being given a Crown appointment which bars him from being an MP – either Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds or Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.
Once this has happened and the Clacton seat is vacant, the writ can be moved in the Commons to trigger a by-election, while Parliament is still sitting and before its summer break begins at the end of next week.
That would likely mean a by-election at some point next month – just as a new government led by Andy Burnham is beginning its time in power, in all likelihood.
The question now is how Reform’s opponents react.
So far, four of Farage’s likely opponents – Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and Restore Britain – have all ruled out standing in the by-election, variously describing it as a “circus”, a “vanity project” and “a waste of taxpayer’s money”.
The Green Party has said the decision would be one for the local party but added: “We are a political party – we contest elections.”
There is a precedent in these situations for opponents not to put up candidates – and to argue they are not going to endorse what they see as a publicity stunt by taking part.
In 2008, Conservative MP David Davis resigned his seat of Haltemprice and Howden as part of a campaign about civil liberties. Neither Labour nor the Liberal Democrats stood against him.
It is worth remembering, incidentally, that this by-election doesn’t end the investigation that the Standards Commissioner is conducting, which, as I mentioned, could itself eventually lead to what is known as a recall petition and, yes, a by-election.
It has led some in Parliament to envisage a scenario where Nigel Farage fights and wins one by-election, only to be confronted by another.
This would only happen if Parliament concluded this punishment was appropriate, and, crucially, 10% of those on the electoral roll in Clacton signed a recall petition demanding one.
It could be, in that scenario, that people there have had enough of ballot boxes and polling stations.
Let’s see.
What Reform are effectively trying to say is we are getting ahead of you – and grabbing the attention and the agenda.
We are in for a split screen summer by the looks of it: a new prime minister, in Andy Burnham on one side, and Nigel Farage, his big political rival, on the other.
