Campaign catchup: Farage running, Starmer bombing, Sunak sinking

Nigel Farage during a press conference to announce that he will become the new leader of Reform UK and that he will stand as the parliamentary candidate for Clacton, Essex. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Good afternoon, and welcome to Election Edition, where I’ll be bringing you all the news and analysis you need to stay on top of the campaign every weekday at 5pm. Here’s what you need to know about the day Nigel Farage caused a monumental political freakout – and then actually followed through. Also some fun stuff. But not that fun, this is still a newsletter about politics, when all’s said and done.

PS: For yet more Farageism, if you can bear it, do listen to our daily podcast Today in Focus, which will be bringing you an Election Extra mini-episode every weekday evening throughout the campaign. I’ll be scurrying off to record that with Lucy Hough as soon as I hit send on this email.