In Blow To Rishi Sunak, Brexit Champion Nigel Farage Announces UK Election Candidacy

Nigel Farage on Monday said he would stand as a candidate for the anti-immigration Reform UK party in Britain's general election next month, after initially ruling out running.

"I have changed my mind... I am going to stand," Farage, 60, told a news conference. He will seek election on July 4 in the fiercely pro-Brexit seat of Clacton, southeast England.

Farage said he had had a change of heart as "I can't let down those millions of people" who had supported him throughout previous elections and referendums.

The move piles more pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose languishing Conservatives can ill afford to lose votes on its right.

Reform is currently polling at around 11 percent, which if replicated at the ballot box could split the right-wing vote, potentially depriving the Conservatives of key seats needed to win re-election.

"I genuinely believe we can get more votes than the Conservative party. They are on the brink of total collapse," said the arch-eurosceptic.

But Farage promised that Reform, which he founded and has now become leader, will also take votes from the main opposition Labour party, although conceded that they will win the election.

"What I'm really calling for, and what I intend to lead is a political revolt. A turning of our backs on the political status quo," he added. 

"Nothing in this country works any more. We are in decline."

Farage has failed in his seven previous attempts at becoming an MP in the UK parliament but was a member of the European Parliament in Brussels for UKIP and Reform UK's forerunner the Brexit Party.

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