Nigel Farage, the pro-Brexit campaigner and serial disrupter of British politics, introduced plans on Monday to run as a candidate in Britain’s common election subsequent month, dealing a brand new setback to the prospects of the nation’s embattled prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
The shock announcement from Mr. Farage, who represents an rebel hard-right motion that campaigns to curb immigration, threatens to upend the marketing campaign by taking votes from Britain’s governing Conservative Get together. In doing so, he may make it even more durable for Mr. Sunak and his occasion to slender a double-digit hole within the polls with the opposition Labour Get together.
Divisive, charismatic and famed for his communication expertise, Mr. Farage was one of many architects of Brexit, which a slim majority of Britons supported in a 2016 referendum. An earlier determination by Mr. Farage to not run this 12 months was thought by some analysts to have sapped momentum from his occasion, Reform U.Ok., the successor to the Brexit Get together he as soon as led.
Mr. Farage mentioned final month that he wouldn’t search a parliamentary seat as a result of he wished to prioritize supporting Donald J. Trump’s electoral marketing campaign in america. Mr. Farage is a longtime ally of the previous president and campaigned for him in 2016 and 2020.
However on Monday Mr. Farage reversed his determination, saying he would take over as chief of Reform U.Ok. for the following 5 years and run for a seat in Parliament.
“I’ve modified my thoughts — it’s allowed, you understand,” he mentioned. “I’m going to face on this election.” He added that he would run in Clacton, a seaside space the place assist for Brexit has been sturdy.
The announcement comes on the eve of one of many greatest occasions of Britain’s common election marketing campaign to date: a televised debate on Tuesday night time between Mr. Sunak and Keir Starmer, the chief of the opposition Labour Get together.
Mr. Sunak is already underneath vital strain, along with his Conservative Get together trailing badly in opinion polls and after a gaffe-prone begin to the marketing campaign.
The change of coronary heart by Mr. Farage may worsen prospects for the prime minister as a result of, in keeping with analysts, Reform U.Ok. threatens to take a major variety of votes from the Conservatives. Till now, a lot of Mr. Sunak’s election technique appeared to have been directed towards profitable again potential supporters from Reform U.Ok., motivating his core right-wing voters to end up and averting an enormous defeat.
However on Monday Mr. Farage claimed that the Conservatives have been destined to be swept away on a wave of disdain for the political institution and have been “on the verge of complete collapse.”
Regardless of Mr. Farage’s profile and recognition on the precise of British politics, electoral success in Clacton, the place he plans to run, just isn’t assured. He has by no means been elected to the British Parliament at Westminster regardless of seven earlier makes an attempt, though he was a member of the European Parliament for 20 years earlier than Britain stop the European Union.
Beneath Britain’s winner-take-all electoral system, candidates from smaller events battle as a result of they should safe the largest share of the vote within the space they search to symbolize.
Nonetheless, Mr. Farage seems to have calculated that he has an opportunity of victory in Clacton, a staunchly pro-Brexit city about 80 miles northeast of London. It was as soon as represented by a lawmaker from the U.Ok. Independence Get together, which Mr. Farage additionally as soon as led and which campaigned for Britain to go away the European Union.
With the Conservatives trailing badly within the opinion polls, Mr. Farage has been more and more vocal in predicting a major defeat for Mr. Sunak’s occasion, even speculating that it might be on the size of that suffered by Canada’s Progressive Conservatives in 1993.
In an interview with The Sunday Occasions of London over the weekend, Mr. Farage mentioned that he had named his occasion Reform U.Ok. after the rebel Canadian occasion of the identical title.
“It took them time, it took them two elections, they grew to become the largest occasion on the middle proper. They then absorbed what was left of the Conservative Get together into them and rebranded,” he mentioned.
Requested if he was suggesting a merger between Reform U.Ok. and the Conservatives, Mr. Farage replied, “Extra like a takeover, pricey boy.”
Mr. Farage has admirers on the precise of the Conservative Get together, together with Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former cupboard minister who has even referred to as for Mr. Farage to be invited to run as a lawmaker for the Conservatives.
Since 2016, Mr. Farage has been vocal in his assist for Mr. Trump, and final week he described the convictions in opposition to him on 34 felony expenses as a “shame.”
Within the 2019 common election, the Brexit Get together didn’t run candidates in lots of parliamentary constituencies. That was to assist Boris Johnson, a former Conservative Get together chief, whose election promise was that he would “get Brexit finished,” and who gained an enormous election victory.
However Richard Tice, Reform U.Ok.’s chief till Mr. Farage changed him on Monday, has mentioned there might be no repeat of that deal and has promised to battle the Tories throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
