Nigel Farage confirmed that he will stand as the Reform UK parliamentary candidate for Clacton, Essex, in the General Election after admitting: "I can’t let down those millions of people."
Farage - who also announced he will be the new leader of Reform UK - said after speaking to members of the public, it made him feel as though he had a duty to enter the race.
Speaking at a press conference, he said: "Difficult though it is, I can’t let down those millions of people, I simply can’t do it, it’d be wrong.
"So I have decided I’ve changed my mind, it’s allowed you know, it’s not always a sign of weakness, it could potentially be a sign of strength.
Nigel Farage also announced that he will be the new leader of Reform UK
GETTY"So I am going to stand in this election."
The former Ukip MEP said he will launch his candidacy on Tuesday.
It will be Farage's eighth attempt to secure a parliamentary seat.
The U-turn comes after the 60-year-old said on GB News last week that he had been "wrong footed" by Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an election as it did not leave him with enough time to launch a campaign.
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However, Farage said today that he would be "back for the next five years" as he sought to put pressure on the Prime Minister.
He said he wanted to lead a "political revolt" before adding: "Yes, a revolt. A turning of our backs on the political status quo. It doesn’t work. Nothing in this country works any more."
He said: "So our aim in this election is to get many, many millions of votes. And I’m talking far more votes than Ukip can got back in 2015.
"When people start to realise in the red wall, with Reform second to Labour, when they start to realise that actually in those seats, it’s a Conservative vote that’s a vote for Labour, it’s a Conservative vote that is a wasted vote, then I think we might just surprise everybody.
The former Ukip MEP said he will launch his candidacy on Tuesday
PA"We are appealing to Conservative voters, we are appealing to Labour voters."
The Tory Party held Clacton in 2019 with a majority of 24,702 in an election in which the Brexit Party stood down candidates to help then Conservative leader Boris Johnson.
Clacton saw a Ukip by-election win in 2014 - triggered by Douglas Carswell’s defection from the Tories.
Carswell held the seat in 2015 before the Conservative Party regained it in 2017.
