Less than two weeks after saying he would not be a running mate in the United Kingdom’s parliamentary elections scheduled for July 4 and explaining his desire to help Donald Trump return to the presidency of the United States, Eurosceptic and anti-immigration British politician Nigel Farage announced this Monday that he had “changed his mind.”
Not only will he be running for the House of Commons seat of Clacton in south-east England, he will also take on the leadership of the populist Reform UK for “the next five years”. He replaced Richard Dice in 2018 as the far-right Brexit Party.
“I’ve changed my mind. It’s not always a sign of weakness. It can be a sign of strength,” he told a news conference, vowing to “lead a political uprising” and “his retreat”. Current status politics”, because “nothing works in this country anymore”.
“Make no doubt: we are unashamedly patriotic. We believe it is right to put the interests of the British people first,” he said, vowing to make Reform UK the biggest opposition party in the 2029 election and accusing the Conservatives of “treason” over Brexit. .
According to most polls, reform is in third place with 10% voting intention. The characteristics of the British electoral system do not guarantee, however, a result close to that level. By vying for votes on the right, the party threatens to steal voters away from the Conservatives, benefiting Labor who were favored to win before Farage’s announcement.
A former member of the Eurosceptic and nationalist UKIP party, a former MEP and a prominent voice in the campaign for a “Brexit” referendum, Farage founded the Brexit Party in 2018 with the sole aim of pressuring the Conservative Theresa May government to complete the exit. of the United Kingdom of the European Union.
The party won the country’s European elections last year in 2019 and contested the legislative elections later that year in December – though it has been careful not to field candidates who could steal votes from the conservatives. By Boris Johnson.
The Brexit Party later changed its name to Reform UK and adopted an almost identical motto “Make America Great Again“From Trump:”Let’s make Britain a better country”. During the pandemic, it became an opposition party, but then reorientated itself ideologically when it realized it lacked the ability to attract new voters with that message.
Nowadays, especially after former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss’ failed economic plan for 2022, reform includes tax cuts, restrictions on immigration, structural reforms to the British political system and an end to “stupid” climate and energy targets.
The party recently recruited Lee Anderson, the former deputy leader of the Conservative Party, after he was suspended. The Tories For racist comments.
Nigel Farage, honorary leader of the Reformation, moved away from radical politics and focused more on his own television program on GB News, a television channel similar to North American Fox News in terms of content and ideological stance.
The change of heart comes after a very difficult start to the election campaign for Prime Minister and leader of the Conservatives, Rishi Sunak, who was even challenged by Farage on the immigration debate.
Despite being an MEP, Farage has yet to be elected to the House of Commons. Not for lack of trying: He competed in 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2015. Clacton’s reason for running this term is that former Deputy Speaker Douglas Carswell was elected twice (2014 and 2015), representing UKIP.
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