Nigel Farage might vote for Boris Johnson's Conservatives in the general election

Heavyweight boxer Dereck Chisora with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage during a party rally at the Gator ABC Boxing Club, in Hainault, Ilford, Essex. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA Wire. - Credit: PA

Nigel Farage could vote for the Tories in the general election – despite running a rival organisation.

The Brexit Party leader said he wants to see the Conservative manifesto before deciding whether to vote for Boris Johnson’s party.

It follows Farage deciding this week to stand down candidates in all 317 constituencies won by the Tories in 2017, including his own in Kent.

That means supporters living in almost half the UK’s seats will not be able to vote for a Brexit Party candidate on polling day.

Speaking to the PA news agency on the campaign trail in Ilford, Farage said he wanted to ensure the changes indicated by the prime minister on Brexit were written into the manifesto before offering his own vote to the Tories.

Asked whether he could vote Tory personally in his own constituency, Farage said: “I want to see the manifesto. Let me see what is in the manifesto.

“I’m hoping and believing that what Boris said last Sunday is going to be in the manifesto.

“If that is in the manifesto then the deal as was is about to be changed in quite a big way.”

The former UKIP leader said he would “never have voted for” the PM’s original Brexit deal, which he called “terrible”.

Farage added: “The original deal I would never have voted for – don’t forget, I’m still an MEP.

“It would come back to the European Parliament, I would never have voted for it in a month of Sundays.

“We get those changes and we start to get towards Brexit and it is very different.”

Questioned on whether he could back the deal in Brussels following his “unilateral” pact with the Tories, Farage added: “Not as it is, absolutely not. But with the changes Boris has indicated, yes.”