good evening. he s insisted numerous times since the general election was called that he would not stand as a candidate but today he changed his mind, and possibly how the election will play out. nigel farage says he s going to take over leading the reform uk party and will run as a candidate for it in the seat of clacton in essex. he put down his sudden change of heart to the millions of people he says he doesn t want to let down. our special correspondent lucy manning has all the details. mr farage, are you standing? well, we ll find in a moment, won t we? why did you change your mind? who knows? who says i have? well, you said a few weeks ago, well, you said ten days ago you weren t going to stand, so why the change? did you ever change your mind about anything ever? he said he wouldn t, but now he will. a major u turn. a change of heart thrust nigel farage into the heart of the general election campaign. i ve changed my mind. it s allowed, you know. it s not always a sign of weak
let s go back to chris mason. rishi sunak and keir starmer are out on the campaign trail today. which is most likely to be affected by the announcement of a candidate for a sleet bear seat in clacton? without cuestion, sleet bear seat in clacton? without question. the sleet bear seat in clacton? without question, the conservatives. - sleet bear seat in clacton? without question, the conservatives. the . question, the conservatives. the kind of news that nightmares are made of for the conservatives. nigel farage, tory tormentor in chief, relaxed and jocular, enjoying the idea of making the conservative party, a party he once belonged to, really squirm. why? because plenty of conservatives conclude that quite a few of their recent voters are lowered by reform uk and already were. and they now fear the prospect of nigel farage being much more prominent will enhance the magnetism of that party. it s notjust that nigel farage is going to be a candidate, it is that he is assuming the leade