Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage announced Monday that he is running in this year’s upcoming United Kingdom general election, vowing to “make Britain great again.”
The decision from Farage comes less than two weeks after he said he would not take part in the race in order to focus his efforts on the U.S. presidential election. Farage previously has tried seven times to win a seat in the House of Commons and will now be seeking a seat in Clacton, a seaside town in eastern England, in the July 4 contest.
“So I’m back. I’m standing as a candidate in this election. I’ve taken the leadership over of Reform UK,” Farage said in a video posted to X, referring to the successor of the Brexit Party. “You know why? I see our country going down the drain. I believe in Britain. These boring idiots that lead the Labour and Conservative parties are not worth the space.”
“Let’s make Britain great again,” he added.
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Nigel Farage speaks during a press conference in London to announce that he will become the new leader of Reform UK and that he will run in the upcoming July 5 general election. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
In a news conference announcing his candidacy, Farage said Monday that “this is the immigration election.”
“We have to build a new house every two minutes just to accommodate those that are legally coming into Britain. The impact on the health service, the impact on infrastructure, on everything else, we have to get a grip. It is the major issue of our times. The population explosion has devalued the life of ordinary Britains in just the most extraordinary way,” he added.
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Nigel Farage campaigns with President Trump in Goodyear, Arizona, during a 2020 U.S. presidential election campaign rally. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
On May 23, Farage – a supporter of former President Trump – said he would not be running because “important though the general election is, the contest in the United States of America on Nov. 5 has huge global significance.”
“A strong America as a close ally is vital for our peace and security,” Farage said at the time. “I intend to help with the grassroots campaign in the USA in any way that I can.”
Nigel Farage said Monday that immigration is the “major issue of our times.” (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
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Farage said Monday during his campaign announcement that he changed his mind on running “because I can’t let down millions of people who would feel let down by me, unless I was at the front and led this charge.”