Analysis by KentOnline’s political editor Paul Francis

Nigel Farage was on familiar ground as he launched the Reform party's election campaign in Dover this morning - but among the questions that even he could not answer was whether it would move the election dial in any direction.

Members of the media had gathered inside the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club on the seafront.

With a backdrop festooned with the Union Flag and slogans promising to save Britain, it was like seeing a Ukip tribute act circa 2015.

The press conference began with Howard Cox, the founder of drivers’ lobbying group FairFuelUK, announcing himself as Reform’s candidate for Dover.

But Mr Farage later said Labour would win and the Conservatives had destroyed themselves and had no one else to blame.

The current MP is Natalie Elphicke, who dramatically defected from the Tories to Keir Starmer’s party earlier this month.

However, she is standing down at the election - and Mike Tapp will be contesting the seat for Labour. The Conservatives are yet to select a candidate.

Mr Farage said the two parties were as bad as each other. The French authorities were trousering vast sums of money from the UK but were not doing what they were supposed to be doing.

The charge sheet was getting longer and longer. It left you pondering if you had travelled through time.

He made no apology for using language that some people might find offensive and said the Reform party had a six-year plan - which just might not go down that well with voters already jaded in week one of the campaign.

Was the party on the cusp of another advance of the kind made by Ukip in Kent in 2013’s county council elections?

Unusually for him he wouldn't be drawn when asked about that and the prospects in a county where the issue of small boats has left the government in choppy waters.

Mr Farage claimed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the general election because he knew “no planes would fly” under his Rwanda policy.

He said there is no chance of the Conservatives keeping their Red Wall seats - but rejected the suggestion he was a coward for not standing in the election.

Mr Cox, from Cranbrook, stood for Reform in the London Mayor elections earlier this month and came 5th with 3% of the vote.

He previously told KentOnline of his stance against ULEZ, 20mph zones, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), big cycle lanes and speed bumps.