Tories get personal as Farage U-turn piles on the pressure over Brexit and migration

NIGEL FARAGE went to war with the Tories over immigration and Europe today as Rishi Sunak's party came under its most intense pressure so far in the election campaign.

- Nicholas Cecil, Jitendra Joshi and Rachael Burford

As British politics was rocked by Mr Farage's U-turn to become Reform UK leader and stand as an MP, Home Secretary James Cleverly acknowledged the possibility of Labour winning with a “large majority".

The Cabinet minister unleashed a personal attack on Mr Farage as he sought to stop Right-wing voters peeling away from the Tories to Reform. But Mr Farage set his sights not on beating the Conservative Party at the election, but "taking it over" after the July 4 polling day when Rishi Sunak's party is set to suffer a historic defeat, according to a YouGov poll.

The veteran Eurosceptic's intervention has electrified the election and he was today launching Reform's campaign in Clacton, Essex, where he will seek to become the MP, having failed repeatedly in the past to get into Parliament.

Amid the glaring failures to deliver the much-promised benefits of Brexit, which he and other Leave campaigners trumpeted in 2016, some voters are likely to be sceptical about Mr Farage's latest political venture. But he has proved that he can connect with other voters and any Reform success is likely to hit the Tories hardest.