Nigel Farage rules out standing again as an MP in next election, reports

Nigel Farage has ruled out standing again to be MP but might be interested in returning to lead the Reform Party, reports have stated.

The right wing former MEP and UKIP leader has stood seven times over 21 years to be an MP for various parties but will not be listed as a candidate for the next election which will likely be in 2024, the Daily Mirror reports.

Mr Farage last stood in 2015 when he failed to win Kent seat South Thanet despite UKIP gaining their greatest ever support, which ultimately led to Britain leaving the European Union.

Since then, Mr Farage has founded the Brexit Party in 2018, which was re-branded as Reform UK in 2020, but left the fray a year later to take up a career as a broadcaster. He currently hosts a show on GB News having previously worked on LBC.

“I am quite happy with life as it is,” Mr Farage told the Mirror. “I don’t dream at night of doing it, but if they (the Tories) go on messing up the way they are, I just might at some point feel compelled to.”

https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1607005843991703554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1607005843991703554%7Ctwgr%5E18cf402357c3060f4beee09a6bd6548cef3549ba%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-26755882172079118733.ampproject.net%2F2211302304002%2Fframe.html

While a thorn in the side of the Conservative government led by David Cameron, 58-year-old Mr Farage was himself a Tory member from 1978 to 1993. He was born in Kent and attended an independent fee paying school before seeking a career in the City.

The office of Nigel Farage has been approached for comment. He has not acknowledged the Mirror story on his social media, but did greet followers with a Christmas Day message outside a pub.