Farage aims to concentrate on Europe
Nigel Farage has announced he won’t be standing in the general election in June.
It was thought the former UKIP leader would stand for the South Thanet seat that he last contested in 2015, where Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay triumphed.
The 53-year-old said a lot of people had been asking him what he was going to do.
He said: “I always had a very strong conviction, I always believed that the direction of this country was wrong in terms of being part of the European Union.
“Given that it’s the European Parliament, not the British Parliament but the European Parliament, that at the end of this two-year process will have absolute right of veto, I thought to myself, sitting as a backbench MP, being called by John Bercow twice a year for Prime Minister’s Questions, or having a chance once or twice a month to be on the front row, to be up close and personal with Jean-Claude Juncker, Donald Tusk and all the rest of them, in terms of stage there’s no comparison.
“And in terms of Brexit I want to make sure that in 2019, as the Brexit deadline approaches and as the European Parliament gets its final vote, I want to make sure those MEPs have the maximum pressure exerted upon them by their constituents.
“I will not stand in this election, but I will be standing behind Paul Nuttall and