Nigel Farage hails Clacton as 'the most patriotic' part of Britain as he launches bid to become the seaside town's new MP - with Reform UK leader slamming Tories for 'betraying' voters and predicting Rishi Sunak will pay a 'big price' at the election
Nigel Farage today hailed Clacton-on-Sea as the 'most patriotic' part of Britain as he launched his bid to become the seaside town's new MP.
The Brexit champion told local voters the Tories had 'betrayed' their trust and warned PM Rishi Sunak he would pay a 'big price' at the general election on 4 June.
His election campaign launch in the Essex constituency came after Mr Farage yesterday performed a stunning U-turn on his not to stand for Parliament.
The 60-year-old has now made a dramatic return to the political frontline and also been installed as Reform leader in place of Richard Tice.
Mr Farage's campaign in Clacton, which was once held by Ukip when he was the party's leader, will be his eighth attempt to enter Westminster.
He will need to overturn a 31,000 Conservative majority from the last election with only minor boundary changes in the seat.
As he launched his campaign this afternoon, Mr Farage made reference to the town's former support for Ukip.
He said: 'Without Clacton, Brexit would not have happened - so thank you Clacton!'
Nigel Farage today hailed Clacton-on-Sea as the 'most patriotic' part of Britain as he launched his bid to become the seaside town's new MP.
The Brexit champion told local voters the Tories had 'betrayed' their trust and warned PM Rishi Sunak he would pay a 'big price' at the general election on 4 June.
His election campaign launch in the Essex constituency came after Mr Farage yesterday performed a stunning U-turn on his not to stand for Parliament.
The 60-year-old has now made a dramatic return to the political frontline and also been installed as Reform leader in place of Richard Tice.
Mr Farage's campaign in Clacton, which was once held by Ukip when he was the party's leader, will be his eighth attempt to enter Westminster.
Mr Farage will need to overturn a 31,000 Conservative majority from the last election with only minor boundary changes in the seat.
Mr Farage earlier claimed the Tories have 'betrayed' Britain as he called for the UK to have 'zero' net migration and defended controversial comments about Muslims.
The newly-installed Reform UK leader, who has sent Conservatives panicking with his return to the political frontline, said immigration had 'exploded' in recent years.
The Brexiteer insisted certain sectors of the economy would have to put up with shortages in a bid to reduce the number of arrivals into the country.
Mr Farage claimed this would drive up wages and 'encourage people to learn skills rather than heading off to university and doing social sciences'.
He also risked stirring up a fresh row this morning in a fiery clash with BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Mishal Husain.
Mr Farage doubled down on his view that a growing number of British Muslims 'do not subscribe to British values', which has been branded 'ignorant and offensive'.
He also defended claims that there are some streets in Britain where 'no one speaks English'.
Challenged about his remarks, Mr Farage replied: 'I could take you streets in Oldham right now where no one speaks English.'
But he declined to comment on whether his own children spoke a second language, when asked how he knew people in Oldham were not multilingual.
The 60-year-old has vowed to lead a 'political revolt' against the Tories and Labour after his bombshell announcement that he will lead Reform for the next five years.
In a stunning U-turn, Mr Farage is also now eyeing a seat in the House of Commons and will later today formally launch his campaign to become MP for Clacton-on-Sea.
[video_shortcode_video_html_5 src="https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2024/06/04/7110962968412309320/1024x576_MP4_7110962968412309320.mp4" itemprop="image" content="https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2024/06/04/7110962968412309320/1024x576_MP4_7110962968412309320.mp4" data-src="https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2024/06/04/7110962968412309320/1024x576_MP4_7110962968412309320.mp4"]
In a round of TV and radio interviews this morning, Nigel Farage launched a direct attack on the Tories over immigration numbers
The newly-installed Reform UK leader, who has sent Conservatives panicking with his return to the political frontline, said immigration had 'exploded' in recent years
In a round of interviews today, Mr Farage launched a direct attack on the Tories over immigration numbers and firmly ruled out a pact with Rishi Sunak's party.
He told the BBC: 'We have been betrayed by a Conservative Party that I gave considerable help to in 2019.
'We were told that we would get control of our borders, we were told the immigration numbers would come down, they have exploded.
'I feel betrayed by them, millions of voters feel betrayed by them.'
Mr Farage claimed the Tories were 'well past their sell-by-date, the brand is ruined, they've lost the election already'.
He added: 'We cannot go on as we are - we have to limit numbers.
'Our lives, our quality of life in this country, is being diminished by the population explosion.
'And if that means that in some sectors there'd be shortages, what that then means is wages will go up and we'd start to encourage people to learn skills rather than heading off to university and doing social sciences.'
Mr Farage stated his aim was to have 'net migration at zero', which would allow 'room within the labour market for up to 600,000 people' to come to Britain each year.
Latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggested that 1.2 million people migrated into the UK last year and 532,000 people emigrated from it.
This left a net migration figure of 685,000 for 2023.
In a later interview, Mr Farage suggested his long-term aim was to effectively take over the Conservative Party.
He told ITV's Good Morning Britain he could not stand for or seek to lead the Conservative Party 'as they currently are'.
But he added: 'You can speculate as to what'll happen in three or four years' time, all I will tell you is if Reform succeed in the way that I think they can, then a chunk of the Conservative Party will join us – it's the other way around.'
He pointed to Canada, where 'Reform did a reverse takeover of the Conservative Party, rebranded it and Stephen Harper – who was elected as a Reform MP – became the Canadian prime minister for 10 years'.
He said: 'I don't want to join the Conservative Party, I think the better thing to do would be to take it over.'
Mr Farage last night used an op-ed for The Telegraph to argue that Britons are 'furious' at how both Labour and the Conservatives have approached immigration.
He added there is also 'deep anger' at the rate at which public services are 'disintegrating'.