Nigel Farage called us ‘nobodies’ in the Clacton byelection. He seems to treat the town in much the same way | Attieh Fard

I had few resources as a candidate, but the contest allowed me to speak to local people about their lives and their MP. They deserve so much better

In the early hours of last Friday morning, a video was posted. It showed Nigel Farage among his team of volunteers, before the votes had been counted, celebrating his victory and saying that he was not going to humiliate himself by sharing a platform at the count next to “nobodies”.

He was referring to the 33 other candidates who had taken part in what was effectively an unnecessary election, one Farage himself had instigated just a few weeks earlier to send one message: that the people of Clacton were backing him, despite parliamentary investigations into his receipt of an undeclared £5m donation. The election is over, but it’s worth thinking about Clacton and those candidates, of whom I was one.

Attieh Fard is a lawyer who was an independent candidate in the Clacton parliamentary byelection