Nigel Farage teased an ’emergency general election announcement’ today amid rampant speculation he will fight to become an MP after all.
In a move that could increase panic in Tory ranks, the Brexit champion posted on social media saying he would be dropping some news at 4pm.
Mr Farage has previously ruled out standing as a candidate for Reform, but supporters have been clamouring for him to change his mind.
There are still four days left to register to run, with speculation that Clacton or East Thanet could attract his eye.
There could be complaints from other parties if Mr Farage was allowed to represent Reform in any of the TV debates without being a candidate.
Reform already has a candidate in Clacton, but one has yet to be selected in East Thanet. Mr Farage is believed to have a home in Kent and previously contested South Thanet.
Mr Farage could find his previous views on Essex come back to haunt him, after he told the Times earlier this year: ‘Do I want to spend every Friday for the next five years in Clacton?’
Reform leader Richard Tice poured fuel on the flames this morning by refusing to rule out Mr Farage having a change of heart.
The intervention came as Kemi Badenoch ruled out serving in the Tories if Mr Farage joins after the election.
The Cabinet minister hit out after Mr Farage alarmed moderates by suggesting he will ‘take over’ the Conservatives after a heavy election defeat on July 4.
Mr Farage kept Westminster guessing for months before announcing shortly after the election was called that he would not be a candidate.
He blamed Mr Sunak’s decision to go early for his stepping aside, admitting he did not have time to build a campaign in a seat.
Clacton was previously held by Douglas Carswell for UKIP.
In January a Survation poll in the constituency suggested that Mr Farage could defeat Tory incumbent Giles Watling.
Mr Farage joined Reform leader Richard Tice on the campaign trail in Skegness, Lincolnshire over the weekend.
Asked whether he wanted to facilitate a merger with the Tories after the election, he replied that it was ‘more like a takeover, dear boy’.
There are widespread fears among Conservative MPs that Reform will hand Labour a bigger victory by splitting the right-wing vote.
Mr Farage has suggested he wants to engineer a realignment of the Right so Reform can team up with Tory hardliners.
In a round of interviews, this morning Ms Badenoch was asked if she would carry on with Mr Farage as a colleague.
‘No, no, Nigel Farage has stood against many Conservatives, including some of my colleagues, what he wants to do is destroy the Conservative Party,’ she told LBC.
Ms Badenoch insisted the Tories were an ‘institution’ and needed to keep going from ‘strength to strength’.
Recently-ousted West Midlands mayor Andy Street warned yesterday that the Conservatives can only win from the ‘middle ground’, saying the idea that Mr Farage should be a leading figure was ‘nonsense’.
Mr Street told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday programme that the fact he came close to keeping his job in traditional Labour territory despite grim national polls demonstrated that the Tories needed to keep to the ‘centre ground’.
‘Whether we win or lose the general election the point is simple, that you have to have that broad church. You have to be centred in the middle ground,’ he said.
‘The lesson of history… the winners have come from the centre ground.’
Mr Street – who decided against standing to become an MP – said that the top echelons of government was dominated by centrists, but added: ‘Who knows what the composition might be and the temptation might be in the future.’
He dismissed ‘nonsense’ rumours that Mr Farage will be among the leaders after the election.
‘That is not a moderate inclusive Conservative Party with a broad appeal. That’s why it’s appropriate that we think about this well before we know the oucome of any general election,’ he said.
The clashes came as a poll showed Labour extending its lead to 20 points – the biggest advantage since Liz Truss was PM.
The Opinium research found Sir Keir’s party was on 45 per cent while the Tories had dropped to 25 per cent. A week earlier, before the first stages of campaigning, the firm detected a 14-point gap.
Earlier this week, Mr Farage declared he had ‘no interest’ in striking a pre-election deal with the Tories.
He dismissed comments he previously made where he said they ‘might have a conversation’ as ‘deeply sarcastic’.
‘There is no deal with the Conservatives whatsoever,’ Mr Farage told a press conference.
The Prime Minister has also ruled out a deal with Reform, despite the insurgent party putting huge pressure on the Tories over issues such as the Channel migrant crisis.
Reform UK is currently polling between 12 and 15 per cent but Farage has said that Tice’s party must reach 18 per cent if they are going to win seats in Parliament.
The right-wing party is offering tax cuts, the abolition of business rates for small businesses, and tax relief for private healthcare users in the draft of its July 2024 election manifesto.
Reform UK are also pledging to launch more public inquiries into Covid-19 and the rollout of the vaccine.