Nigel Farage

Nigel Paul Farage (born 3 April 1964) is a British politician who has been the 2nd Leader of Reform UK from 2019 to 2021, and again since 2024. Farage has also been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton since 2024. In the past, he was a Member of the European Parliament for the South East England 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.

The Right Honourable Nigel Farage
Official portrait, 2024
2nd Leader of Reform UK
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 June 2024
Deputy	David Bull Ben Habib Richard Tice
Preceded by	Richard Tice
In office 22 March 2019 – 6 March 2021
Preceded by	Catherine Blaiklock
Succeeded by	Richard Tice
President of Reform UK
In office 6 March 2021 – 3 June 2024
Leader	Richard Tice
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Leadership offices 1998–2019 5th Leader of the UK Independence Party Acting 5 October 2016 – 28 November 2016 Deputy Paul Nuttall Chairman Paul Oakden Preceded by Diane James Succeeded by Paul Nuttall In office 5 November 2010 – 16 September 2016 Deputy David Campbell Bannerman Christopher Monckton Paul Nuttall Chairman Steve Crowther Preceded by Jeffrey Titford (Acting) Succeeded by Diane James In office 27 September 2006 – 27 November 2009 Deputy David Campbell Bannerman Chairman John Whittaker Paul Nuttall Preceded by Roger Knapman Succeeded by The Lord Pearson of Rannoch President of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy 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 Parliament for Clacton
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 July 2024
Preceded by	Giles Watling
Majority	8,405 (18.3%)
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	(1964-04-03) 3 April 1964 Farnborough, Kent, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Reform UK (2019–present)
Other political affiliations	Conservative (1978–1992) Anti-Federalist League (1992–1993) UKIP (1993–2018) Independent (2018–2019)
Spouse(s)	Gráinne Hayes (m. 1988; div. 1997) Kirsten Mehr (m. 1999, sep)
Domestic partner	Laure Ferrari
Children	4
Education	Dulwich College
Occupation	Politician, Broadcaster, Media personality
Website	{{URL|example.com|optional display text}}

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

Political career

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. After Trump's criminal convictions in 2024, Farage stated that he supports Trump, "more than ever".

On 3 June 2024, Farage announced that he would be leader of Reform UK again, for the 2024 general election.

Television

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

Personal life

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

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. They have two children, Victoria (born 2000) and Isabelle (born 2005).

Nigel Farage Media

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  Farage at the UKIP Conference in 2009

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  Farage at the opening of the UKIP office in Basingstoke, in 2012

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  Nigel Farage

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  Nigel Farage

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  Farage in the European Parliament plenary session in January 2019 with Frans Timmermans

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  Farage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the U.S. in 2018

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  Leader of the Brexit Party Nigel Farage speaking with supporters at a "Liberty for Trump" event at the Graduate Hotel in Tempe, Arizona. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.

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  Farage campaigning for Reform UK during the 2024 general election

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  Nigel Farage, former Member of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom in Strasbourg, France

Other websites

• Official website
• Nigel Farage Profile at European Parliament website
• UKIP MEPs Archived 2012-04-21 at the Wayback Machine Official website of the UK Independence Party in the European Parliament
• Europe of Freedom and Democracy Political group in the European Parliament
• Debrett's People of Today