SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP
Nigel Farage, here speaking at the national conservatism conference ‘NatCon’ bringing together far-right politicians at the Claridge Hotel, Brussels, April 16, 2024.
UNITED KINGDOM – He preferred to put an end to speculation about a possible candidacy which could have further weakened the conservatives. Brexit champion and former MEP Nigel Farage announced this Thursday, May 23, that he would not run for an MP seat during the British legislative elections on July 4.
The honorary president of the nationalist Reform UK party, anti-immigration and anti-climate policies, “thought for a long time about the possibility of running in the next legislative elections”he wrote in a letter posted on X. “I will do what I can to help in this campaign, but now is not the right time for me to do more than that”however, he decided, burying the hypothesis of an eighth candidacy for the British Parliament.
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Nigel Farage, 60, tried seven times to get elected to Westminster, without success. A former MEP with a divisive personality, he is currently a presenter on the conservative television channel GB News, which gives him a platform and ensures him a certain popularity with the conservative electorate.
Reform UK, potential 3rd political force
Credited with more than 10% of voting intentions and which would place them as the third political force in the country, Reform UK could nibble votes from the Conservatives in power for 14 years, already well ahead of Labor in the polls. It could thus cause them to lose key seats, particularly in popular constituencies in the north of England which had voted strongly in favor of Brexit.
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Some observers believe that a candidacy of Nigel Farage would have further strengthened the party.
The former MP said he fully supported party president Richard Tice and seemed to reject joining the conservative party, some figures of which do not hide their sympathy for him. “The choice between Labor and the Conservatives is not an inspiring one, and only Reform UK has the radical agenda needed to halt this country’s decline”he said.
In 2016, this figure of the British far right led a fierce campaign in favor of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
Admirer of Donald Trump – who nicknamed him “Mr Brexit” – Nigel Farage also announced this Thursday that he would get involved in the campaign for the American presidential election on November 5, without further details. “A strong America as an ally is vital to our peace and security. I intend to provide on-the-ground assistance to the campaign in the United States in any way possible.”he sketched.
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