Nigel Farage
British broadcaster and politician (born 1964) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nigel Paul Farage (/ˈfærɑːʒ/;[lower-alpha 3] born 3 April 1964)[3] is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2019 to 2021. Farage is currently the Honorary President of Reform UK and a presenter for GB News.[4] He served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union in 2020.
Nigel Farage | |
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Leader of the Brexit Party[lower-alpha 1] | |
In office 22 March 2019 – 6 March 2021 | |
Chairman | Richard Tice |
Preceded by | Catherine Blaiklock |
Succeeded by | Richard Tice |
Leader of the UK Independence Party | |
Acting 5 October 2016 – 28 November 2016 | |
Chairman | Paul Oakden |
Preceded by | Diane James |
Succeeded by | Paul Nuttall |
In office 5 November 2010 – 16 September 2016 | |
Deputy | Paul Nuttall |
Chairman | Steve Crowther |
Preceded by | Jeffrey Titford (Acting) |
Succeeded by | Diane James |
In office 12 September 2006 – 27 November 2009 | |
Deputy | David Campbell Bannerman Christopher Monckton |
Chairman | John Whittaker Paul Nuttall |
Preceded by | Roger Knapman |
Succeeded by | The Lord Pearson of Rannoch |
President of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy[lower-alpha 2] | |
In office 20 July 2004 – 1 July 2019 | |
Served with | Hanne Dahl Francesco Speroni David Borrelli |
Preceded by | Jens-Peter Bonde |
Succeeded by | Office abolished |
Chairman of the UK Independence Party | |
In office 1998 – 22 January 2000 | |
Leader | Michael Holmes |
Preceded by | Alan Sked |
Succeeded by | Mike Nattrass |
Member of the European Parliament for South East England | |
In office 10 June 1999 – 31 January 2020 | |
Preceded by | Constituency established |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | Nigel Paul Farage (1964-04-03) 3 April 1964 (age 60) Farnborough, Kent, England |
Political party | Reform UK (2019–present) |
Other political affiliations |
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Spouses |
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Children | 4 |
Education | Dulwich College |
Signature | |
Website | www |
Farage speaks in a European Parliament debate on the election of Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission Recorded 16 July 2019 | |
Known as a prominent Eurosceptic since the early 1990s, Farage campaigned for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. Farage was a founding member of UKIP, having left the Conservative Party in 1992 after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty,[5][6] which furthered European integration and founded the European Union. After campaigning unsuccessfully in European and Westminster parliamentary elections from 1994, he was elected MEP for South East England in the 1999 European Parliament election. He was re-elected in the 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 European Parliament elections. In the European Parliament, he was the president of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD)[lower-alpha 4][7] where he was noted for his speeches,[8][9] and as a vocal critic of the euro currency.
He became the leader of UKIP in September 2006, and led the party through the 2009 European elections, when it won the second-highest share of the UK popular vote, with over 2 million votes. He stepped down in November 2009 to focus on contesting Buckingham, the constituency of the Speaker, John Bercow, at the 2010 general election, and came third. Farage successfully stood in the November 2010 UKIP leadership contest,[10] becoming leader once again after Lord Malcolm Pearson voluntarily stepped down. He was ranked second in The Daily Telegraph's Top 100 most influential right-wingers poll in 2013, behind Prime Minister David Cameron.[11] Farage was named "Briton of the Year" by The Times in 2014.[12] In the 2014 European elections, UKIP won 24 seats, the first time a party other than Labour or Conservative had won the largest number of seats in a national election since the December 1910 general election, pressuring Cameron to call a referendum on EU membership.[13][14][15]
In the 2015 general election, UKIP secured over 3.8 million votes and 12.6% of the total vote, replacing the Liberal Democrats as the third most popular party, but secured only one seat. Farage announced his resignation when he did not win the South Thanet seat, but his resignation was rejected and he remained as leader.[16] Farage was a prominent figure in the successful campaign for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum.[17] After the vote to leave the EU, Farage resigned as leader of UKIP, triggering a leadership election, but remained as an MEP.[18][19] In December 2018, Farage stood down from UKIP.[lower-alpha 5][1][20] He returned to frontline politics by launching the Brexit Party in 2019.[21][22] Drawing support from those frustrated with the delayed implementation of Brexit by Theresa May's government, the Brexit Party won the most votes in the May 2019 European elections, becoming the largest single party in the European Parliament; May announced her resignation later that month and was succeeded by Boris Johnson's government which ultimately delivered Brexit.
He was the host of The Nigel Farage Show, a radio phone-in on the Global-owned talk radio station LBC, from 2017 to 2020.[23] In 2021, he resigned as leader of Reform UK and began a TV career as a presenter on GB News. In 2023, Farage competed in the twenty-third series of the reality TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, finishing in third place.