Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), has announced that he will not be running as a candidate in the forthcoming UK general election.
Instead, he has chosen to focus his efforts on aiding the re-election campaign of Donald Trump in the United States.
"I have given considerable thought to the idea of contesting the general election," Mr Farage stated. "However, the election in the United States on November 5th carries immense global significance." Despite his decision not to run, Mr Farage, who currently serves as the honorary president of the Reform Party, pledged to contribute to the campaign in whatever way he could.
"It is not the appropriate time for me to commit further than that," he added. Mr Farage expressed his full support for the Reform Party and its current leader, Richard Tice, describing the choice between the Labour Party and the Conservatives as "lacklustre."
"Only the Reform Party possesses the radical agenda necessary to halt the decline in this country," he asserted. Mr Farage has previously attempted to secure a seat in the House of Commons seven times, each time losing by a significant margin.
This unexpected announcement will likely come as a relief to Rishi Sunak, as the Conservative Party was at risk of losing substantial support if Mr Farage had assumed a more prominent role within the Reform Party. Currently, the Reform Party ranks third in the polls, garnering more support than the Liberal Democrats with 12 percent. Although it is unlikely to win a single seat in the election, the Conservatives have been cautioned that the Reform Party could potentially divide the vote, jeopardising their majorities in numerous constituencies.
The Reform Party, originally founded as the Brexit Party by Mr Farage, is now led by Richard Tice, a former Tory donor and multimillionaire. Mr Tice, a long-standing Eurosceptic, amassed his wealth in the property industry, following in the footsteps of his grandfather who once proposed demolishing London's iconic Ritz Hotel to make room for office buildings.
In the lead-up to the 2016 EU referendum, Mr Tice demonstrated a similar disregard for convention, partnering with fellow businessman Arron Banks to establish Leave.EU, rather than aligning with the Vote Leave campaign led by Boris Johnson and supported by numerous Brexit-advocating Tories. The group was responsible for some of the more contentious advertisements of the campaign, featuring images of migrants crossing a border, earning them, along with Mr Farage, the nickname "the bad boys of Brexit."
Mr Tice, a Tory member throughout his adult life, severed ties with the party in 2019 due to his frustration with Theresa May's government's failure to deliver on the referendum result. He subsequently joined Mr Farage's newly formed Brexit Party (now known as the Reform Party), where he was elected as party chairman and MEP for the East of England in the final European parliamentary elections held in the UK. When Mr Farage stepped down as leader in March 2021, confident that Brexit was secure and "won't be reversed," Mr Tice was the natural successor.
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