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Nigel Farage

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Nigel Farage
Head shot of Farage slightly smiling in front of a grey background
Official portrait, 2024
Leader of British Reform
Assumed office
3 June 2024
DeputyDavid Bull and Ben Habib
Richard Tice
ChairmanRichard Tice
Zia Yusuf
David Bull
Lee Anderson
Preceded byRichard Tice
In office
22 March 2019 – 6 March 2021
ChairmanRichard Tice
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byRichard Tice
Previous party positions
1998–2024
Honorary President of Reform UK
In role
6 March 2021 – 3 June 2024
LeaderRichard Tice
Preceded byRole established
Succeeded byRole abolished
Leader of the Brexit Party[a]
In office
22 March 2019 – 6 March 2021
Preceded byCatherine Blaiklock
Succeeded byRichard Tice
Leader of the UK Independence Party
Acting
5 October 2016 – 28 November 2016
ChairmanPaul Oakden
Preceded byDiane James
Succeeded byPaul Nuttall
In office
5 November 2010 – 16 September 2016
DeputyDavid Campbell Bannerman
Christopher Monckton
Paul Nuttall
ChairmanSteve Crowther
Preceded byJeffrey Titford (Acting)
Succeeded byDiane James
In office
27 September 2006 – 27 November 2009
DeputyDavid Campbell Bannerman
ChairmanJohn Whittaker
Paul Nuttall
Preceded byRoger Knapman
Succeeded byThe Lord Pearson of Rannoch
President of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy[b]
In office
20 July 2004 – 1 July 2019
Served withHanne Dahl
Francesco Speroni
David Borrelli
Preceded byJens-Peter Bonde
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Chairman of the UK Independence Party
In office
1998 – 22 January 2000
LeaderMichael Holmes
Preceded byAlan Sked
Succeeded byMike Nattrass
Member of Parliament
for Clacton
In office
4 July 2024 – 8 July 2026
Preceded byGiles Watling
Succeeded byTBD
Member of the European Parliament
for South East England
In office
10 June 1999 – 31 January 2020
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Nigel Paul Farage

(1964-04-03) 3 April 1964 (age 62)
Farnborough, Kent, England
Political partyBritish Reform (since 2019)
Spouse(s)
  • Gráinne Hayes
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1988; div. 1997)​
  • Kirsten Mehr
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1999, separated)​
Domestic partnerLaure Ferrari
Children4
EducationDulwich College
Occupation
  • Politician
  • broadcaster
  • media personality
SignatureFile:Nigel farage 2024 sig.svg
Websitenfarage.com Edit this at Wikidata
Nigel Farage's voice
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

Nigel Paul Farage (born 3 April 1964) is a British politician who has been the 2nd Leader of Reform from 2019 to 2021, and again since 2024. Farage has also been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton from 2024 to 2026. In the past, he was a Member of the European Parliament for the South East region and he was one of the leaders of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in the European Parliament until Great Britain left the European Union in 2020. Since then, he has worked as a broadcaster.

Farage is known for being the former leader of the British Independence Party. Farage has been an important figure in the 2016 European Union membership referendum.

Political career

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Nigel Farage left the Conservative Party in 1992 after the Maastricht Treaty was signed by John Major's Conservative government. He was first elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 1999 and was re-elected in 2004 and 2009. In September 2006, he was elected to become the UKIP leader and was party leader during the 2009 European Parliament election where UKIP received the second highest number of votes after the Conservative Party.

In November 2009, Farage resigned as UKIP leader because he wanted to concentrate on being elected to the House of Commons at the 2010 General Election. At the general election, Farage failed to be elected and became the UKIP leader again in November 2010.[1]

Farage stood for election as an MP for South Thanet in 2015. He lost to Craig Mackinlay. He resigned as leader. Four days later, Farage became the leader of the party again.[2]

Farage was instrumental in the Brexit campaign and was regarded by many as the main factor why the Leave campaign won and the UK voted to leave the European Union. On 25 August 2016, Farage was invited to a Donald Trump rally, in Jackson, Mississippi, to give him his support in the run-up to the US election in November 2016. During the rally, he said the famous quote "If I was an American citizen, I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me. In fact, I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if she paid me."

Farage is thought to be the first British politician to address a Republican presidential election rally. Speaking from the United States, Mr. Farage told The Daily Telegraph: “Brexit is just massive over here. I went to the [Republican Party] convention in Cleveland and I just could not believe that ordinary people are talking to me about Brexit. They see it as a victory of ordinary people against big business, big banks, and big politics. “The Republican activists and managers here are keen to hear the Brexit story, hear how we managed to get 2.5 million people who don’t normally vote at all to go down to the polling station." Ever since the allegations about Russian interference in the US election, Farage has been viewed by the FBI as a "person of interest" in order to discover wherever he also interfered with the election, like the Russian government.[3]

On 4 December 2018, Nigel Farage left the UKIP Party as he believed its new leader Gerard Batten was becoming too obsessed with Tommy Robinson and Islam.[4]

Donald Trump and Nigel Farage in 2019

In October 2020, Farage praised Donald Trump and spoke in support of Trump at one of his campaign rallies.[5] After Trump's criminal convictions in 2024, Farage stated that he supports Trump, "more than ever".[6]

Leader of Reform UK

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On 3 June 2024, Farage announced that he would be leader of Reform UK again, for the 2024 general election.[7] In the 4 July election, Reform UK won 14% of the vote and 5 seats in the House of Commons. Farage was elected as MP for Clacton.

Since the election, Reform UK has risen in the polls and is close to Labour and the Conservatives.

On 7 July 2026, Farage announced that he was resigning as an MP to cause a by-election in Clacton, and that he plans to stand for re-election.[8] He resigned to stop investigations about his finances and for not declaring gifts.[9][10]

Leader of the Reform (2019–2021, 2024–)

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Television

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In 2023, Nigel Farage appeared on the 23rd season of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here.

Personal life

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In his early twenties, Farage was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He made a full recovery.[11][12]

Farage has been married twice. He married Gráinne Hayes in 1988. They had two children: Samuel (1989) and Thomas (1991). The marriage ended in divorce in 1997. In 1999 he married Kirsten Mehr, a German national.[11] They have two children, Victoria (born 2000) and Isabelle (born 2005).[13]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Renamed "Reform UK" from 4 January 2021.
  2. ↑ Known as Independence/Democracy from 2004 to 2009 and Europe of Freedom and Democracy from 2009 to 2014

References

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  1. ↑ Andrew Sparrow "Nigel Farage to stand for Ukip leadership again", The Guardian, 3 September 2010
  2. ↑ correspondent, Rowena Mason Political (11 May 2015). "Nigel Farage withdraws resignation as Ukip leader" – via www.theguardian.com. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ↑ "Nigel Farage is 'person of interest' in FBI investigation into Trump and Russia". TheGuardian.com. 2 June 2017.
  4. ↑ Farage, Nigel (4 December 2018). "With a heavy heart, I am leaving Ukip. It is not the Brexit party our nation so badly needs". The Telegraph.
  5. ↑ Massie, Graeme (29 October 2020). "Nigel Farage praises Trump at rally after being introduced as one of Europe's 'most powerful men'". The Independent. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  6. ↑ "Reform UK's Nigel Farage says he supports Donald Trump 'more than ever' despite him being found guilty". Sky News. 31 May 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  7. ↑ "Nigel Farage to stand in election and become leader of Reform UK". BBC News. 2024-06-02. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  8. ↑ Gutteridge, Nick; Penna, Dominic (7 July 2026). "Farage resigns to fight by-election". The Telegraph.
  9. ↑ "Manor of Northstead". GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  10. ↑ Sparrow, Andrew (8 July 2026). "'If he wants to spend summer arguing with a bin': Treasury confirms Farage's resignation accepted – UK politics live". The Guardian.
  11. 1 2 Goldsmith, Rosie (4 December 2012). "Profile: Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP". BBC News.
  12. ↑ Simon Hattenstone (5 June 2009). "Nigel Farage, Ukip: 'Other party leaders live in a PC world.' | Politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  13. ↑ Watts, Robert (2007-03-11). "Making plans with Nigel". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-05-20.[permanent dead link]

Other websites

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