Populist activist Nigel Farage makes a U-turn and says he will stand in the UK election | national news

LONDON (AP) — Pro-Brexit, anti-immigration campaigner Nigel Farage returned to the British political front line Monday, announcing he will take over the leadership of the right-wing Reform UK party and run for Parliament in the July 4 election.

Farage said he would stand in the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea in his eighth attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons. His seven previous attempts had failed.

The announcement, a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, came just days after Farage said he would not run because it was more important to support his ally Donald Trump in November’s US presidential election.

While Farage has some chance of defeating Clacton’s Tory incumbent and being elected on July 4, he admitted his bigger aim is to lead the “real” opposition to a Labor government if the Conservative Party in government he loses, as many expect.

Farage said he wanted to lead a “political revolt … a turning of the back on the political status quo”.

He aims to replicate the populist political pressure that drove and then won a 2016 referendum on Britain’s exit from the European Union.

“I can’t turn my back on those millions of people who followed me, believed in me,” Farage said. “I changed my mind because I can’t let millions of people down.”

In an upbeat announcement speech, Farage, who was a member of the European Parliament for more than 20 years until Brexit, stuck to his familiar script of condemning career politicians, distant elites and mass immigration.

The 60-year-old politician also said he would take over as leader of Reform, the successor to the Brexit Party. This role has been held since Reform was founded by Richard Tice, with Farage as honorary chairman and charismatic figurehead.

The centre-right Conservatives, who have been in office for 14 years, are struggling with a widespread sense that voters want change. On July 4, UK voters will elect MPs to fill all 650 seats in the House of Commons. The party leader who can command a joint majority – either alone or in coalition – will become prime minister.

The front-runner is Labor leader Keir Starmer, who pledged on Monday to preserve the UK’s nuclear weapons as he seeks to fend off criticism that his centre-left party is soft on defence.

His campaign is centered on his claim to have transformed the party since replacing Jeremy Corbyn, a long-time opponent of nuclear weapons and critic of NATO, as Labor leader in 2020.

“My commitment to nuclear deterrence is absolute,” Starmer said Monday during a campaign appearance at a military museum in Bury, northwest England.

“Nobody aspiring to be prime minister would expose the circumstances under which it would be used. It would be irresponsible, but it is there as part of a vital part of our defence, so of course we should be prepared to use it,” he said.

Britain has been a nuclear power since the 1950s, and both Labor and Conservative governments have consistently supported nuclear weapons. Since the 1990s, Britain’s nuclear deterrent has consisted of four Royal Navy submarines armed with Trident missiles.

Starmer said his entire top team shared his commitment to the nuclear arsenal, even though several members, including deputy leader Angela Rayner and foreign affairs spokesman David Lammy, voted against renewing Trident in 2016.

Starmer said a Labor government would build the four new nuclear submarines the Conservatives have already committed to.

He also promised that a Labor government would increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, although he did not set a deadline. Sunak says his Conservatives will achieve the goal by 2030.

Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system – in which the candidate with the most votes in each area wins – makes reform unlikely to win many seats. But the party could help defeat the Tories in some areas.

Farage said he is modeling his strategy after the Reform Party of Canada, which helped push that country’s conservatives to the brink of destruction in the 1993 election before reshaping Canadian Conservative politics.

Britain’s Conservatives, following polls, have focused their campaign on supporting the vote, targeting older voters and social conservatives – the groups most likely to defect to Reform. Conservative campaign promises include an increase in the state pension and a plan for all 18-year-olds to complete a year of civilian or military national service.

The Conservative Party said in a statement that “Farage knows Reform won’t win any seats, but he doesn’t seem to care that a vote for Reform only helps Labour. It does exactly what Keir Starmer wants it to do.”

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