Nigel Farage is taking over as the leader of Reform UK and has announced he will run in the general election.
After previously saying that he would not run in the general election in July, he is now Reform UK's candidate in Clacton.
Home Secretary James Cleverly, unpleased with the new electoral threat from Reform UK, told GB News on Tuesday, June 4: “It’s interesting that he has changed his mind on this. It wasn’t that long ago whether he was questioning whether he really wanted to spend every Friday listening to the people of Clacton.”
Mr Farage was clearly fired up as he responded less than half an hour later accusing the Conservatives of telling “lies” about getting immigration down. He told BBC radio: “We have been betrayed by a Conservative Party.
“We were told that we would get control of our borders, we were told the immigration numbers would come down, they have exploded.
“Millions of voters feel betrayed by them.”
He claimed that Rishi Sunak had "lost the election already" and that the Tory brand was “ruined."
Who is Nigel Farage?
Mr Farage is the new leader of Reform UK, formerly the Brexit Party, for which he served as leader from 2019 to 2021.
Prior to this, he founded and led the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and has served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the UK's exit from the European Union in 2020.
Mr Farage’s political career started with joining the Conservative Party in 1978, although he admitted voting for the Green Party in 1989 for their “sensible” and Eurosceptic policies.
In disapproval of Prime Minister John Major's administration's signature of the Treaty on European Union at Maastricht, he resigned from the Conservatives in 1992. The following year, he founded UKIP.
He was also the host of The Nigel Farage Show, a radio phone-in on the Global-owned talk radio station LBC, from 2017 to 2020.
In 2021, he expanded his interests elsewhere and began a TV career as a presenter on GB News.
He earned an impressive third place taking part in the I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2023.
Before politics, radio and TV, Mr Farage was trading commodities at the London Metal Exchange.
What party does he represent?
Mr Farage represents Reform UK, which was originally known as the Brexit Party.
Founded by Catherine Blaiklock with support from Mr Farage in 2018, the right-wing party advocated for hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit.
It failed to win any seats in the 2019 general election.
It was renamed Reform UK upon the country;s exit from the European Union on January 31, 2020, and during the COVID-19 epidemic, it largely became an anti-lockdown party.Nowadays, the party runs campaigns centred around a more expansive agenda, primarily opposing immigration and the government's Net Zero energy plan.
Has he ever been an MP?
Mr Farage has attempted to be an MP but has been unsuccessful seven times.
His most recent attempt was during the 2015 general election, when he came in second place behind the Tory candidate in South Thanet, Kent.
What constituency is he standing in?
The Reform UK leader is seeking to win Clacton.
In the past, he had indicated that he could be amenable to discussions with the Conservatives, but that he could not cooperate with them in their current form.Rather than joining the Conservative Party, Mr Farage told ITV's Good Morning Britain that his objective was to overthrow it.
He said: “You can speculate as to what’ll happen in three or four years’ time, all I will tell you is if Reform succeed in the way that I think they can, then a chunk of the Conservative Party will join us – it’s the other way around.
“I don’t want to join the Conservative Party, I think the better thing to do would be to take it over.”
