Farage, who previously said he would not stand in the election, says he will lead the anti-immigration Reform UK party.

Nigel Farage, the politician who helped champion Britain’s departure from the European Union, has said he will stand as a candidate in next month’s election for the right-wing Reform UK party in a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Farage, 60, had previously said he would not stand in the July 4 vote in order to help his friend Donald Trump campaign for the US election later this year.

He said he will run for the anti-immigration party in a Eurosceptic seat in southeast England and also return as the party leader.

“I’ve decided I’ve changed my mind,” Farage told a news conference. “It’s not always a sign of weakness; it could potentially be a sign of strength.”

Reporting from London, where Farage gave a press conference to announce his candidacy, Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela said Farage’s decision would likely boost  Reform UK’s chances in the vote.

“This [Farage’s] press conference was put together so hastily that even some senior members of the Reform party didn’t know it was happening. This proves what a master of political theatrics Nigel Farage is,” she said.

Angela noted that Farage has been campaigning and speaking to young people.

“He says he’s seen the rejection of the political class for the first time in decades,” she said.

Farage has stood unsuccessfully for Parliament seven times but is still one of the most influential British politicians of his generation, putting pressure on a succession of prime ministers to take tougher positions on Europe and immigration.

At the last general election in 2019, Farage’s party decided not to contest seats held by the Conservatives, then led by Boris Johnson, to avoid splitting the pro-Brexit vote.

Polls suggest the opposition Labour Party is on course for victory this time, with the Conservatives staring at one of the worst results in their history.

Support for Reform UK runs at about 10 percent nationally, giving the party the third highest vote share, polls show.

Angela reported that Farage has said that the conservatives were already crushed and he hopes to get votes from Labour voters.

Conservative leader Sunak has already tried to win over voters tempted by Reform with policies such as tax cuts for pensioners and the reintroduction of national service.

Asked on Monday if he was worried about Farage entering the contest, Sunak said a vote for Reform would help the opposition Labour Party win the election.

Rebel Wilson thinks the idea that only gay actors should play gay characters is “total nonsense.”

In a new interview on BBC Radio 4’s “Desert Island Discs” (via The Guardian), the “Pitch Perfect” star brought up the topic when host Lauren Laverne asked if she felt there was a different standard with the kinds of jokes women comedians can make compared to men.

“I don’t think there’s a different standard, it’s more this thing about, if you are something then now you’re allowed to joke about it,” she said. “So say, if you are overweight, you can say jokes. But if you’re not [you can’t]… that’s kind of what’s currently happening.”

But, is that a positive development for the state of comedy today? “I think that’s hard,” Wilson said. “It’s going into this territory of like saying, ‘Well, only straight actors can play straight roles and gay actors can play gay roles,’ which I think is total nonsense.”

She continued, “I think you should be able to play any role that you want. But I always think, in comedy, your job is to always flirt with that line of what’s acceptable. Sometimes you do step over it but, at the end of the day, you are trying to entertain people.”

Wilson came out as gay in June 2022, when she revealed her relationship with now fiancée Ramona Agruma. The actor said she was “lucky” when it came to telling her family.

“Even though I come from a very conservative background, it went very, very well … My grandparents, who are in their 90s, are just so chilled and cool with it,” she said, adding that her fiancée’s family did not share the same support.

“Ramona’s family, not as much,” she said. “Her mum has luckily come around now, her father still doesn’t talk to her, but we’re hoping that will change.”

Wilson also addressed the controversy over her memoir, “Rebel Rising,” which included allegations of inappropriate behavior against Sacha Baron Cohen during the filming of 2016’s “The Brothers Grimsby.” After Baron Cohen denied Wilson’s claims, calling them “demonstrably false,” the passages containing the allegations were redacted from the U.K. version of the book “for legal reasons.”

“If it can help a few people out there then it’s worth it,” Wilson said of her memoir.

“I stayed in a situation and had things said to me and stuff that I should have left,” she added. “The me now would be strong enough, but back then I just didn’t have enough self-esteem to leave and I thought I’d be labelled as unprofessional if I left.”

Listen to the full “Desert Island Discs” episode here.

• The speaker of Georgia’s parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, signed the divisive “foreign agents” bill into law after the legislature dismissed the veto of President Salome Zourabichvili.
• The bill, known as the “Russian law” by critics, requires certain media and nonprofit organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
• Georgia’s opposition United National Movement has described the bill as part of efforts by the ruling Georgian Dream party to drag the country into Russia’s sphere of influence. Georgian Dream rejects these claims.

The speaker of Georgia’s parliament said he gave the final endorsement on Monday to a divisive “foreign agents” bill that has prompted weeks of protests by critics who say it will restrict media freedom and jeopardize Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.

Shalva Papuashvili signed the bill into law after the legislature, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, dismissed the veto of President Salome Zourabichvili.

The bill, which was approved by Parliament last month, requires media, nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofit groups to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.

RUSSIA NOT ‘BLUFFING’ WITH NUCLEAR THREATS AS BIDEN GREENLIGHTS LIMITED MILITARY STRIKES, MEDVEDEV SAYS

Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, vetoed it, accusing the governing party of jeopardizing the country’s future and “hindering the path toward becoming a full member of the free and democratic world.”

The government argues that the law is needed to stem what it deems to be harmful foreign actors trying to destabilize the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million, but many Georgian journalists and activists say that the bill’s true goal is to stigmatize them and restrict debate ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

Opponents have denounced the legislation as “the Russian law” because it resembles measures pushed through by the Kremlin to crack down on independent news media, nonprofits and activists. Critics say the measure may have been driven by Moscow to thwart Georgia’s chances of further integrating with the West.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday again dismissed the criticism as “unnecessary emotions that had only an artificial basis.”

“Now the law has already come into force and we all have to act pragmatically, with a cool mind and put aside unnecessary emotions,” he said.

Over the weekend, the opposition United National Movement said that a crowd of masked men attacked its central offices in Tbilisi, smashing windows and damaging property. It alleged that the attackers were linked to the ruling party. The Interior Ministry has opened a probe on charges of property damage.

The controversial legislation is nearly identical to one that the ruling party was pressured to withdraw last year after massive street protests. Renewed demonstrations again gripped Georgia as the bill made its way through parliament this time. Demonstrators scuffled with police, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them.

Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, reaffirmed after signing the bill that its main purpose is to “increase the resistance of the political, economic and social systems of Georgia to external interference.” “If non-governmental organizations and mass media want to participate in the decision-making process and influence the life of the Georgian people with funding from foreign governments, they must meet the minimum standard of transparency — the public must know who is behind each actor,” he said.

Georgia’s Civil Society Foundation, a non-government group, said Thursday that it was preparing to challenge the legislation in the country’s constitutional court.

The European Union’s foreign policy arm has said that adoption of the law “negatively impacts Georgia’s progress on the EU path.”

The EU offered Georgia candidate status last December, while making it clear that Tbilisi needs to implement key policy recommendations for its membership bid to progress.

Following parliamentary approval of the bill last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that travel sanctions would be imposed on Georgian officials “who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia.” He voiced hope that the Georgian government will reverse course and “take steps to move forward with their nation’s democratic and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.”

The opposition United National Movement has described the bill as part of efforts by Georgian Dream to drag the country into Russia’s sphere of influence — claims the ruling party angrily rejects. Georgian Dream was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and billionaire who made his fortune in Russia.

Russia-Georgia relations have often been rocky since Georgia became independent after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 2008, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia, which had made a botched attempt to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, as independent states and strengthened its military presence there. Most of the world considers both regions to be parts of Georgia.

Tbilisi cut diplomatic ties with Moscow, and the regions’ status remains a key irritant even as Russia-Georgia relations have improved in recent years.