Reform UK founder and honorary president Nigel Farage has announced he will not stand in the general election.
There was speculation he would be unveiled as a parliamentary candidate by Reform leader Richard Tice.
In a statement posted on X, Mr Farage said he would “do my bit to help” the party, but now was “not the right time to go any further than that”.
Launching Reform’s campaign, Mr Tice said it would field candidates in all but 20 of the UK’s 650 constituencies.
The party would contest 630 seats across England, Scotland and Wales “no ifs, no buts”, he said.
Mr Tice will stand in Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire, where Conservative MP Matt Warman had a majority of 25,621 in the 2019 general election.
Reform currently has one MP, Lee Anderson, who defected from the Tories in March.
“Contrary to what all the commentators say, the likes of my good friend Lee Anderson and myself, we are going to win seats,” Mr Tice told the party’s campaign launch in London.
He played down Mr Farage’s decision, saying he would “be helping out significantly” during the election campaign.
The GB News presenter is cancelling his show on the channel for the duration to free up time for campaigning.
Calling it “the immigration election”, Mr Tice hit out at high levels of net migration, “establishment experts” and the “weak, feeble politicians who have broken Britain”.
Rishi Sunak had “bottled it” and decided to “cut and run” by calling
