A GRINNING NIGEL FARAGE held six fingers up for the camera. Six votes is not much of a majority, but it was enough for Mr Farage’s Reform UK to beat Labour in a by-election for Runcorn and Helsby, a seat just outside Liverpool. What was once one of the safest Labour seats in the country fell to Mr Farage’s party, in the most dramatic result in a swathe of elections that demonstrated Reform could win across the country and threaten both Labour and the Conservatives.