It’s not often that a fringe party steals the news agenda, but funny things happen when Nigel Farage is (or is at least rumoured to be) involved.
In a packed (if rather soulless conference room) in a glitzy hotel in London Victoria, the tension was palpable. The big announcement of the press conference was to be Reform UK’s candidate in the upcoming Wellingborough by-election, triggered by the suspension from parliament of the Tory MP Peter Bone. Might Bone, who lost the Conservative whip in October, defect to Reform (founded by Farage in 2019 as the Brexit Party) and stand as their candidate? Or might Farage himself make an eighth attempt to become an MP? The Reform party leader Richard Tice was due to give a speech, but would there be a shock appearance from Farage fresh from the Australian jungle?
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