Nigel Farage shocks Westminster as he takes over Reform UK – and is standing for election
The Brexit architect has announced he is taking over as the leader of Reform UK and standing for parliament in a stunning change of mind.
Nigel Farage announces he's standing in General Election
Nigel Farage has shot fear into the hearts of the Tories this afternoon after declaring “I’m back” and promising to lead a revolt from the political front line.
In a bombshell election moment, Mr Farage revealed he is taking over Reform UK as its new leader, taking the baton off Richard Tice.
He also confirmed a major u-turn and will stand for election in the former UKIP constituency of Clacton, a seat many polls suggest he stands a very good chance of taking from the Tories despite Boris Johnson winning it with 70% of the vote in 2019.
The change of mind came after days of telling the media that the snap election meant he couldn’t stand in the seat, as there wasn’t enough time to collect enough data for a proper electoral fight.
However after meeting voters around the country over the last week, he said he’d been left with the impression he was letting supporters down by not standing.
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He told a press conference in central London: “The thing that shook me in a way last week were there number of people coming up to me on the streets and saying ‘Nigel, why aren’t you standing?’ I gave my logical, rational reasons for it, but I couldn’t help - after each exchange - feeling like I was letting them down”.
“People who have stood with me in some cases for many many years, election battles, referendums.
“I can't let down those millions of people… it would be wrong So I’ve decided I’ve changed my mind! It’s not always a sign of weakness. So I am going to stand in this election”.
Mr Farage also pledged to lead Reform UK not just for the election, but for the next five years in a longer-term campaign to become the real opposition to a Labour Government.
He batted away claims that his announcement would hand Sir Keir Starmer the keys to Downing Street on a plate, pronouncing: “The election is over. It’s done. Labour has won the election, there is not a contest”.
"‘Will the conservatives get 80 seats or 150 seats’ is now almost irrelevant - Starmer has won this election. My fear is nothing will change/maybe things will get ever so slightly worse.”
Mr Farage paid credit to Richard Tice, who led the party during a period when many on the right said it was no longer necessary during Boris Johnson’s premiership, and confirmed that the former leader would take up the role as party chairman while fighting his Boston and Skegness seat.
The right wing populist warned Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives that he intends to lead “a political revolt”.
“A turning of our backs on the political status quo. It doesn’t work. Nothing in this country works any more. We are in decline. This will only be turned around with boldness. With economic growth.
“We are going to be the voice of opposition. I’ve done it before. I’ll do it again. I’ll surprise everybody.”
He concluded, “I’m coming back!”, and even made the shock prediction that Reform UK could overtake the Conservatives in the coming weeks.
Any further squeeze by Reform UK of the Conservative vote could hand dozens more seats to Labour.
Responding to the major campaign moment, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Nigel Farage risks handing Keir Starmer a blank cheque to rejoin the EU, impose the Retirement Tax on pensioners and hike taxes on hardworking Brits up and down the UK”.
“Farage knows that Reform won’t win any seats, but he doesn’t seem to care that a vote for Reform only helps Labour. He’s doing exactly what Keir Starmer wants him to do.”
