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Nigel Farage has dropped a shock political bombshell this morning by announcing he will not play a major role in this General Election. After promising to confirm his plans this morning, the

former Brexit Party leader finally got off the fence and said it is 'not the right time' for him to return to frontline politics. The news is a major boost for Rishi Sunak and the

Tories, for whom Nigel Farage playing a prominent role could have cost them dozens of seats. Mr Farage said: "I have thought long and hard as to whether I should stand in the upcoming

general election. "As honorary president of Reform UK, I am fully supportive of Richard Tice's leadership and urge voters to put their trust in him and Lee Anderson. I will do my

bit to help in the campaign, but it is not the right time for me to go any further than that. "Important though the general election is, the contest in the United States of America on

November 5 has huge global significance. A strong America as a close ally is vital for our peace and security. I intend to help with the grassroots campaign in the USA in any way that I can.

"The choice between Labour and the Conservatives is uninspiring, and only Reform have the radical agenda that is needed to end decline in this country.” Responding to Mr Farage's

announcement, former Cabinet Minister Nadine Dorries slammed the GB News presenter, fuming that his decision is 'unpatriotic'. Ms Dorries said: "You have to question the

patriotism in a man who has always claimed above all else to be a patriot when he puts another country before his own". "Nigel Farage not standing in the general election because

he thinks the elections in the US are more relevant." Reform UK is set to hold a press conference this morning, commenting on the snap election and today's anticipated migration

figures. Leader Richard Tice will no doubt be thankful he no longer has to answer questions about Mr Farage's political plans, but may regret having the charismatic politician by his

side during the campaign. Last night Mr Farage claimed Rishi Sunak part-called the election due to fears Nigel Farage would tear apart the Tory vote. He told GB News: “I think the timing of

this general election has quite a lot to do with me. “He was scared. He'd heard rumours, true or not, that I was going to go back into the frontline political fray and it would have

give me a six month run against the worst, most insincere, Conservative Prime Minister in history, against the most boring house party guest as leader of the Labour Party, I think Reform was

a very big factor in this decision.” Rishi Sunak will spend the election arguing that the Conservatives have made progress on stopping small boats, but Richard Tice’s party is expected to

hammer the Government over both their failure on illegal and legal migration. New data suggests that while Reform faces an uphill struggle with the UK’s First Past the Post electoral system,

they could scalp a couple of seats on July 4. The most winnable seat for Mr Tice is Barnsley North, where Reform’s predecessor The Brexit Party won just 5,000 votes fewer than Labour in

2019. This means a swing of just 4.5 percent would be needed for Reform to take the seat. Following behind is Hartlepool, the seat in which Richard Tice stood at the last election. This Red

Wall seat, eventually taken by the Tories in 2020 in a by-election, would require a 5.92 percent swing. The party will also be desperate to see Lee Anderson re-elected in Ashfield, after the

Red Wall Rottweiler defected from the Tories to become their first MP in March this year.