Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage
03.04.1964 (60 years) (Downe, Kent, England)
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster. He has been leader of the Brexit Party since 2019, and has served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England since 1999. Outside his Brexit Party and MEP activities, he is a vice-chairman of the pro-Brexit organisation Leave Means Leave, and is the host of a radio phone-in on the Global-owned talk radio station LBC. He was leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2016. He co-chairs the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (formerly "Europe of Freedom and Democracy") group. Known as a prominent Eurosceptic in the UK since the early 1990s, he has been noted for his European Parliament speeches, and as a vocal critic of the euro currency. Farage was a founder member of UKIP, having left the Conservative Party in 1992 after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which furthered European integration and founded the European Union. After campaigning unsuccessfully in European and Westminster parliamentary elections for UKIP since 1994, he was elected MEP for South East England in the 1999 European Parliament election. He was re-elected in the 2004, 2009 and 2014 European Parliament elections. He first became the leader of UKIP in September 2006, and led the party through the 2009 European Parliament election, when it won the second-highest share of the UK popular vote, defeating Labour and the Liberal Democrats with over two million votes. He stepped down in November 2009 to concentrate on contesting Buckingham, the constituency of the Speaker, John Bercow, at the 2010 general election, and came third. In November 2010 Farage successfully stood in the 2010 UKIP leadership contest, becoming leader of the party once again after the resignation of Lord Pearson of Rannoch, who voluntarily stepped down as leader in August that year. Farage announced his resignation as leader when he did not win the South Thanet seat in Kent at the 2015 general election, but his resignation was rejected and he remained in his post. In June 2016 he was a prominent supporter of the successful campaign for a vote in favour of leaving the EU in the UK EU membership referendum. On 4 July 2016, he again announced his resignation as leader of UKIP, triggering a leadership election. He was ranked second in The Daily Telegraph's Top 100 most influential right-wingers poll in October 2013, behind Prime Minister David Cameron. Farage was named "Briton of the Year" by The Times in 2014. In 2017, he began contributing to the American television network Fox News. In 2018 he joined Leave Means Leave. On 4 December 2018, Farage announced his resignation from UKIP over the appointment of Tommy Robinson as an adviser to the UKIP leader Gerard Batten and the decision of the National Executive of UKIP to keep Batten as leader of the party.On 13 February 2019 Farage confirmed that he would sit as a member of the Brexit Party in the European Parliament. On 22 March 2019, Farage was officially announced as the new Leader of the Brexit Party after Catherine Blaiklock's resignation.