The driving force behind Britain’s exit from the European Union is the return of British politics. Nigel Farage will contest the July 4 election on behalf of the British Reform party. According to correspondent Lia van Bekhoven, the British public was quite surprised by Farage’s return. ‘He himself has said several times that he will not participate.’

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an early election ‘came as a surprise to Farage’, says Van Bekhoven. ‘During that period, Farage helped the British Reformation campaign.’ According to the correspondent, Reform was a ‘right-wing radical’ and a ‘minor party’. But it appears likely that the party will become a major competitor to the Conservative Party, which faces losing many seats in the election.

To improve his chances, Farage is standing for election in the constituency of Clacton, a holiday resort where there was a massive vote in favor of Brexit in the 2016 referendum. But Farage does not expect that he will be a major competitor to the Labor Party with Reform England. ‘According to Farage, this election is already close, because everyone knows that Keir Starmer, from the opposition Labor Party, will win.’

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But Farage wanted to participate because he stated that ‘little change would happen’ if Labor took the lead. “As far as he was concerned, Labor and the Conservatives were two faces of the same establishment and elite group,” explains Van Bekhoven. Reform UK presents itself primarily as a nationalist party wanting to limit migration to the UK. ‘As far as Farage is concerned, that is the theme of his campaign.’

Boring campaign

According to Van Bekhoven, the politician shook up the elections with his return. ‘Everything else means nothing. So far the election campaign has been very boring. He is now gaining momentum as he is one of the most famous and most controversial politicians in the UK. But he was also someone who ran a good campaign, was an activist and told a clear story with passion.’ Van Bekhoven saw that these characteristics were not present in other party leaders.