Farage: I won’t stand, but I’d have won
NIGEL Farage announced last night that he will not stand at the election – despite claiming he would have won easily.
The former Ukip leader, who has made seven failed attempts to become an MP, said he wanted to remain in the European Parliament instead.
Mr Farage said he had been tempted to stand in Clacton after former Ukip MP Douglas Carswell announced earlier that he would not run again.
‘It would be a very easy win and for me, a personal vindication to get into the House of Commons after all these years,’ he said. But he claimed he could better influence Brexit as an MEP.
‘If I compare the platform I have in Strasbourg to being a backbench MP, there is frankly no comparison,’ he wrote in an article for the Daily Telegraph. ‘The Brexit negotiations will take place in Brussels and the European Parliament will not only have a large impact on them but ultimately will have the right of veto any deal.
‘I believe I can use my profile in European politics to put real pressure on MEPs to vote for a sensible deal with the UK.’
He insisted Ukip was not dead: ‘The certainty of a large Conservative majority and knowing that the Remainers have been trounced, will see Ukip voters coming home.
‘ Ukip have had a huge transformative effect on British politics, but the job is far from done. We may have
helped to win the war with the referendum, but winning the peace is of equal importance.’
He warned that Paul Nuttall, the new Ukip leader, needs to prove himself at the election, raising speculation that Mr Farage could make a return.
Mr Carswell, who quit Ukip last month, urged voters to back the Tories.
He defected from the Tories to Ukip in 2014 and became the party’s first elected MP in the subsequent byelection in Clacton. But he fell out spectacularly with Mr Farage.
In a message to constituents, Mr Carswell said: ‘I have done everything possible to ensure we got, and won, a referendum to leave the EU, even changing parties and triggering a byelection to help nudge things along.
‘ Last summer, we won that referendum. Britain is going to become a sovereign country again.... Job done. I’m delighted.’