After having survived the dangers of the Australian jungle (he came third in ‘I’m famous, get me out of here!’), Nigel Farage plans a return to the mud of British politics. The former Ukip leader, renamed by his friend Donald Trump as Mr. Brexit, aspires to campaign with Reform UK and turn the 2024 elections into a referendum on mass immigrationa.
Farage himself, who pocketed 1.2 million euros for his television adventure, has unleashed speculation by openly proclaiming “Never say never” in an interview on ITV in which he also presaged the “total defeat” of the Conservative Party.
The president of Reform UK Richard Tice, who replaced his old friend in 2021 at the head of the party, has given even more arguments: “The more help Nigel can give us, the better for us”. Tice acknowledged that it will be very difficult for Farage to “resist the temptation” to return to the forefront of politics, especially in light of the Rishi Sunak’s immigration policy fiasco and the record of 745,000 net immigrants in 2022.
According to sources close to the former Ukip leader, cited by The Observer, Farage would not compete directly for a seat in Westminster in 2024, given his long list of seven attempts and seven failures. His participation would be more like national campaign leader of the party that he himself helped found, on the embers of the Brexit Party, and which in some polls reaches 9%.
37% of Conservative Party voters admit they would have a “more favourable” view of Reform UK with Farage on board, and that is something that particularly worries the premier Rishi Sunak, who has prematurely picked up the stake with a hard right turndoing a duet with Georgia Meloni and warning from Rome that the Mass immigration “will overwhelm our countries and destroy our democracies”.