Nigel Farage launched his bid to be elected to Britain’s national Parliament on Tuesday, drawing a clearly larger-than-expected crowd of locals at the seafront in his chosen constituency of Clacton.
The leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage stood on a picnic bench outside a Fish & Chip shop at the entrance to Clacton Pier to launch his election campaign in the seat midday Tuesday, delivering a classic populist message promising to oppose the political mainstream in Westminster if elected.
Addressing a clearly larger than expected crowd — the sound system brought by Farage’s team apparently wasn’t loud enough for Farage to be heard clearly by all who came — the Brexit leader hit on points of policy and widely felt areas of concern on culture, but focussed on his personal track record of having been an effective thorn-in-the-side to the political establishment during his time in Brussels. Appealing to the people of Clacton to make him the leader of the opposition to the coming Labour government, which Farage said is inevitable, the Brexiteer said in his surprise return to frontline UK politics: “send me to parliament to be a bloody nuisance”.
“Whether you like it or not we’re going to get a Labour government”, Farage said, continuing: “The question is, who is going to be the voice of opposition? And I want Reform UK, with me at the helm, to be in Parliament, and I promise you I’ll liven it up a lot from what it currently is” .
(Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage enjoys a pint of beer as he launches his General Election campaign in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Picture date: Tuesday June 4, 2024. (Photo by James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)
Crowds listen as Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage launches his General Election campaign in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Picture date: Tuesday June 4, 2024. (Photo by James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)
On forming that opposition — Farage has already said his stretch-goal for this election is to get more votes than the cratering Conservatives — he told the crowd: “these people [in Westminster] unlike you in Clacton are not genuinely patriotic people, they don’t believe in Britain and the British people the way you do… we want to put voices in Westminster that truly believe in Britain, do not want the minds of our kids being poisoned, telling them they can be proud of this country, proud to be British, and being optimistic.”
Children’s minds being poisoned was not the only culture war touchstone for Farage in his address, and he received a roar of laughter and applause after telling the rally that: “I do know one thing, that a woman cannot have a penis.”
Farage and party colleage Richard Tice, who had been the Reform UK leader until yesterday, repaired to the local branch of Wetherspoons — the nationwide pub chain owned by Brexiteer Sir Tim Martin — for a pint of beer.
As previously reported, while Farage has had a rocky time with being elected to Parliament in the past, pollsters immediately reacted to the news that he would in fact be making a surprise bid to be elected yesterday generally positively. Former Tory pollster and co-founder of the JL Partners research firm, James Johnson said on Monday: “To those texting me asking if Nigel Farage will win Clacton. Yes, Nigel Farage will win Clacton.”
Farage’s last attempt to enter Parliament was in 2015, when he stood in Thanet, where he suffered a narrow defeat to the Conservatives. The election later went to court over allegations the Conservatives had massively overspent in the seat to keep Mr Farage out of Parliament, and a Tory election agent was found guilty, fined, and handed a suspended sentence.
(Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
A person stands with a board display a betting company’s odds for the newly appointed leader of Britain’s right-wing populist party, Reform UK, and the party’s parliamentary candidate for Clacton, Nigel Farage, to win the seat, during his Farage’s election campaign launch in Clacton-on-Sea, eastern England, on June 4, 2024. Nigel Farage on Monday said he would stand as a candidate for the anti-immigration Reform UK party in Britain’s general election next month, after initially ruling out running. “I have changed my mind… I am going to stand,” Farage, 60, told a news conference. He will seek election on July 4 in the fiercely pro-Brexit seat of Clacton, southeast England. (Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP) (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
