Nigel Farage

Nigel Paul Farage (/ˈfærɑːʒ/ ^ⓘ FARR-ahzh; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton and Leader of Reform UK^[c] since 2024, having previously been its leader from 2019 to 2021. He was the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016. Farage served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in 2020.

A prominent Eurosceptic since the early 1990s, Farage was first elected to the European Parliament (EP) in 1999. In 2004 he became the president of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy.^[b] Farage was elected UKIP's leader in 2006 and led the party at the 2009 European Parliament election, when it won the second-most votes in the UK. He stood unsuccessfully in Buckingham at the 2010 general election before he returned as UKIP's leader that same year. At the 2014 European Parliament election UKIP won the most seats in the UK, pressuring David Cameron to call the 2016 EU membership referendum.^[2][3][4] At the 2015 general election Farage was an unsuccessful candidate in South Thanet.

After the referendum, Farage resigned as UKIP's leader. In 2018 he co-founded the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021), which drew support from those frustrated by the delayed implementation of Brexit by Theresa May's government, and won the most votes at the 2019 European Parliament election, becoming the largest single party in the parliament;^[5][6] May announced her resignation days later, and was succeeded by Boris Johnson, whose government delivered Brexit in 2020; Farage has criticised the delivery of Brexit on several occasions. At the 2024 general election Farage again became Reform UK's leader, and won in Clacton.

Farage is known for his distinctive character and style, including his flamboyant personality,^[7][8] fashion,^{[9][10][11][12]} and social media presence,^[13][14][15] as well as his form of British right-wing populism.^[16] He was ranked second in The Daily Telegraph's "Top 100 most influential right-wingers poll" in 2013, behind Cameron, and was also named "Briton of the Year" by The Times in 2014.^[17] He was ranked first on the New Statesman's Right Power List in 2023, described as "the most influential person on the British right".^[18]

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