Besides rain and bad polls, Sunak also must contend with ghosts

London: Two polarising political figures, both on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, had long threatened to cast a shadow over Britain’s general election.

The presence of Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn, adored and detested by their respective tribes in equal measure, promised to pull the Conservative and Labour parties away from the centre.

But for once, it was Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who had the slightly better news on Thursday.

Nigel Farage, former leader of the Brexit Party, arrives for the launch of Popular Conservatism in London.Credit: Bloomberg

Not long after Farage, a leading figure in the Brexit referendum, ruled out standing for the right-wing populist Reform party as a candidate, it was Corbyn – dumped as a Labour candidate – who flagged he’d enter the race as an independent.

Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer held a series of events across the country on the first full day of the general election campaign, following the prime minister’s rain-drenched election announcement.

Farage, whose popularity and campaigning skills had worried the Conservatives, said he would “do his bit” in the UK, but would focus on campaigning with grassroots groups ahead of the US presidential contest between Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden in November, an election he said had “global significance”.

Running as an independent: Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.Credit: AP

Reform UK launched its election campaign in London, confirming the party would stand candidates in all constituencies in Great Britain. The party is polling at about 12 per cent and is expected to eat into the Tory’s right flank in the election, while also drawing some votes from Labour in certain regions.

There had been fears among senior Tory officials that Reform would bleed sufficient votes from the Conservatives to rob the party of several seats in the ballot.

Farage, a former I’m a Celebrity ...Get Me Out of Here contestant, said the choice between Labour and the Conservatives in the UK was “uninspiring, and only Reform have the radical agenda that is needed to end decline in this country”.

He has stood to be an MP for various parties seven times but has lost each by significant margins. He was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2020, from where he was a vocal critic of the EU and led the charge for Brexit. Since 2021 his focus has been as a TV presenter on GB News.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer.Credit: Getty

The 60-year-old said in a social media post he had “one more big card to play in politics in my life” but it was “not now”, flagging he could run at the 2029 general election.

It was widely thought Farage would announce his candidacy next week for an expected northern autumn election, but Sunak’s decision to surprise with a summer poll seemed to scupper his plans.

Farage has also made no secret of his desire to take on a liaison role between the UK and the US if Trump is re-elected, and has said he is certain Starmer will become the next Labour prime minister.

Sunak has ruled out a deal with Reform UK to try to stay in power and said on Thursday he was “not really focused on personalities elsewhere” when asked about Farage’s decision not to stand.

About a possible pact, he said: “Of course I can rule that out”.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, campaigns at the Port of Nigg, Scotland, with the leader of the Scottish Conservative party, Douglas Ross.Credit: Getty

Corbyn, 74, who led the Labour Party between 2015 and 2020, is expected to announce that he is standing against Labour as an independent candidate in his north London constituency.

He has been the MP for Islington North since 1983 but was sacked from Labour’s parliamentary ranks in November 2020 after claiming that accusations of antisemitism under his leadership had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”. But he still has widespread support among local activists.

The move will come as a headache to Starmer, who has worked hard to bring Labour back to the mainstream and was the person who banned his predecessor from standing after he failed to apologise for his handling of antisemitism within the party.

He said at the time of Corbyn’s sacking that his “zero tolerance” stance on the matter was part of a push to “bring this party back to the British people” and that Labour would “never again lose sight of its purpose or its morals”.

Following his suspension, Corbyn said he had “no intention of stopping” fighting for his constituents in the seat.

Labour has not yet selected a candidate to run in Islington North, where Corbyn secured a huge majority of 26,188 at the 2019 general election, making it one of the party’s safest seats in the country. Friends of the former leader are said to believe he can win again.

Labour has a membership of about half a million people, many of which joined in recent years because they were inspired by Corbyn’s left-wing approach. Some of them are now disillusioned by Starmer’s attempts to take the party back to the centre ground.

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