In the early hours of a British summer morning, Nigel Farage did something that distils much of his political character into a single act: he declared victory before the votes were counted, then announced he would not be present to receive the result. The Clacton by-election — already a spectacle of 34 candidates, metre-long ballot papers, and a satirist in a bin — became a mirror for a broader question about democratic ritual and the obligations of those who seek power. Whether his margin of victory matches his confidence, the financial investigations that trail him will not wait for ceremony