Nigel Farage has stepped down as leader of Ukip following last month’s vote to leave the European Union, saying he had achieved the aim for which he came into politics.
Advertisement
Speaking at a conference this morning, Nigel said: “I have chose to stand aside as leader of UKIP”.
And as if that wasn’t enough, Farage also said now he has nothing left to achieve.
Mr Arnott said: “We have just won a referendum to leave the European Union”.
Farage previously resigned as a Ukip leader after not being elected as an MP following the May 2015 general election. On Monday he said: “I won’t be changing my mind again, I assure you”.
Farage declined to be drawn on who should be the new UKIP leader but said someone would be in place before its autumn conference.
For years Farage has operated on the political fringes – ironically as a member of the European Parliament – campaigning against the EU and what he characterized as its looming shadow over British sovereignty.
Farage is the latest pro-Brexit campaigner to step back from the limelight after the historic vote.
But Guardian columnist and author Owen Jones, who backed the remain campaign, appeared less upbeat, saying Ukip could threaten the Labour Party in northern England even morepost-Farage.
Farage is leaving politics at an especially divided time for the U.K. The country chose to leave Europe as he advocated, but the decision only got 52 percent of the vote. Seeing a way to blunt the appeal of UKIP to traditional Conservative voters, Cameron announced his in/out referendum, never imagining for a moment the United Kingdom would vote to Leave. “If the terms aren’t right, I will do whatever I can to help people to make it right”. “Now I want my life back”. In his resignation speech Farage claimed that he felt he’d done a “pretty good” job of leading the party through the European Union referendum. “I did spend 20 years in business, I have spent quite a lot of time in Brussels, I might have something to give if they want to, if they don’t that’s fine”, he said.
Advertisement
Farage and the UKIP have taken a hard line against immigration and the EU’s emphasis on freedom of movement, calling for stricter measures at the border.
