LONDON — Watch out, Rishi Sunak. Nigel Farage says he believes he’ll be leading the Conservative Party within three years.
Speaking to the Politics Home website, the staunch Brexiteer said: “I’d be very surprised if I were not Conservative leader by ‘26. Very surprised.”
It’s far from clear how seriously the famously jocular Farage is taking the prospect of a high-profile return to Tory politics. The former Brexit Party leader insisted he was “serious” about aiming for party leadership, then later told the site that he made the statement “in jest.”
Farage was a prominent fixture at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this month, where he gained entrance as an anchor for his upstart TV outlet GB News.
The former MEP was greeted as a hero by the Tory faithful and spent much of his time posing for selfies and signing autographs — sparking gossip he may be considering an unlikely return to frontline politics.
For Farage, however, the first hurdle would be his readmittance as a Tory Party member. He left the Tories in 1992 following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty and has since led right-wing rivals UKIP, the Brexit Party and Reform.
A number of high-profile Conservatives — including Rishi Sunak — have chosen not to shut down the prospect of Farage returning to the fold.
“The Tory Party is a broad church, Sunak told GB News earlier this month. “I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values.”
Source : Politico
