- By Chas Geiger
- Political reporter
Reform UK founder and president emeritus Nigel Farage has announced that he will not stand in the general election.
There was speculation that he would be announced as a parliamentary candidate by reform leader Richard Tice.
In a statement published on X, the GB News presenter said he would “do everything I can” to support the party but that now was “not the right time to do more”.
Mr Tice launched his reform campaign by saying he would field candidates in all but 20 of Britain’s 650 constituencies.
The party will contest 630 seats across England, Scotland and Wales, he said, adding: “It’s not a matter of if, it’s not a but.”
Tice will run in Boston, Skegness and Lincolnshire, where Conservative MP Matt Warman won a majority of 25,621 votes in the 2019 general election.
“Contrary to what all the commentators, including my good friend Lee Anderson and myself, are saying, we are going to win seats,” Mr Tice said at the party’s campaign launch in London.
Mr Tice downplayed Mr Farage’s decision, saying during the campaign he would be “hugely supportive”.
He called it the “immigration election” and slammed high net immigration numbers, “establishment pundits” and “weak politicians who have ruined Britain”.
Mr Tice claimed Rishi Sunak had “sucked up the situation” and decided to “break the party” by calling an election in the summer instead of continuing until the autumn.
He said the prime minister was “very scared” about the Reform Party’s rise in the polls and “fearful of what’s to come”.
The latest opinion polls have put the party ahead of the Liberal Democrats with about 11% of the national vote, and the Reform Party says it will field enough candidates to contest every seat.
The Reform Party claims to target both Conservative and Labour voters, but recent by-election results suggest it is the party the Conservatives fear most – the party led by Farage from 2019 to 2021 and then known as the Brexit Party.
In the last general election in 2019, the party did not stand in constituencies won by the Conservatives in 2017.
Mr Farage has previously said he would not seek an eighth bid to become a Westminster MP under the first-past-the-post electoral system.
in his statement, He suggested his priority would be helping his friend Donald Trump return to the White House.
“I have thought long and hard about whether I should stand in the next general election,” he said.
“As Honorary Chair of Reform UK, I fully support Richard Tice’s leadership and urge voters to place their confidence in him and Lee Anderson.”
“General elections are important, but the elections to be held in the United States on November 5th have great global significance.
“A strong America as a close ally is essential to our peace and security, and I intend to support America’s grassroots movement in any way I can.
“The choice between Labour and the Conservatives is not inspiring and only Reform has the radical policies we need to end this country’s decline.”
Reformers have particularly criticized the Conservatives on issues of immigration and net zero.
Many Conservative members fear this could deal a major blow to Rishi Sunak’s hopes of returning as chancellor.
But they will be relieved that Mr Farage has decided not to take on a more visible role, given his high public profile.
When Mr Farage decided to step back from frontline politics in 2021 following Brexit, Mr Theis became leader of the Reform Party.
Farage led the UK Independence Party from 2006 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2016, and served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the UK’s departure from the EU in 2020.
Known as a Eurosceptic since the early 1990s, he left the Conservative Party after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which promoted European integration, and was seen as a key figure in the decision to hold a referendum on Brexit in 2016. It had been.
Mr Farage has stood unsuccessfully for the UK Parliament seven times, most recently in South Thanet, Kent, in the 2015 general election.
Westminster’s primary and secondary system has repeatedly undermined his chances, but the proportional representation system used in the European Parliament has allowed him to enjoy a long career as an MP.
