Nigel Farage confirms plans to stand as future candidate after General Election

Nigel Farage has insisted he still has “one more big card to play” and confirmed plans to stand as a future MP candidate, despite feeling “extremely disappointed” by Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a General Election on July 4.

The Reform UK honorary president said he could not campaign both nationally and for one constituency in the six-week timeframe, and suggested the Prime Minister had used “first mover advantage” with the announcement.

Mr Farage announced in a statement on Thursday that he would not stand as a party candidate in the election, but would “do my bit to help” in the UK campaign.

Speaking to GB News on Sunday, Mr Farage said: “I’ll admit I was extremely disappointed last week, I really was very, very down indeed that I’d lost perhaps first mover advantage, there was very little time, and I realised very quickly I couldn’t do both.”

He continued: “Six weeks made it very, very difficult – impossible to do both, difficult to find a seat.

“I’ve chosen I want to be part of the national debate not just in a constituency, and I will be that and believe you me, I’m going to do my best to expose some of the absolute nonsenses that are being discussed over immigration and economics.”

Mr Farage ran as an candidate for the UK Independence Party (Ukip) at five previous general elections and two by-elections.

His most recent campaign was in the South Thanet constituency in 2015, where he picked up more than 16,000 votes.

Asked whether he was planning to return to frontline politics for Reform after the election, Mr Farage said: “I’ve always reasoned aged 60 that I’ve got one more big card to play, personally, in terms of putting myself forward as a candidate – the question is when to play it.

“I had decided I’d do it this year, and I thought I’d have six months of it – I didn’t, I had six weeks.

“Will I at some point in the future come back to try and reshape, to actually create a centre-right right of British politics, because there isn’t one?

“At some point in the future, the answer to your question is yes.”