Nigel Farage

Both parents of one of Farage's great-grandfathers were German who emigrated to London from the Frankfurt area shortly after 1861.

His German ancestor Nicholas Schrod was mentioned in the papers in 1870 in connection with a dispute with two men over the Franco-Prussian War.

Farage's first school was Greenhayes School for Boys (Grammar School) in West Wickham and he subsequently spent a short period at a similar school in nearby Eden Park.

Nigel Paul Farage (born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2019 to 2021.

Farage is currently the Honorary President of Reform UK and a presenter for GB News.

His father gave up alcohol two years later, in 1971, and entered the antiques trade, having lost his Stock Exchange position; the next year, endorsed by friends, he returned to the trading floor at the new Stock Exchange Tower on Threadneedle Street.

Farage's grandfather, Harry Farage, was a private who fought and was wounded in the First World War.

It has been suggested that the Farage name comes from a distant Huguenot ancestor.

From 1975 to 1982, Farage was educated at Dulwich College, a fee-paying private school in south London.

In his autobiography he pays tribute to the careers advice he received there from England Test cricketer John Dewes, "who must have spotted that I was quite ballsy, probably good on a platform, unafraid of the limelight, a bit noisy and good at selling things".

Farage was active in the Conservative Party from his school days, having seen a visit to his school by Keith Joseph.

Farage spoke of his admiration for Enoch Powell, once calling him his political hero.

In 1981, an English teacher who had not met the 17-year-old Farage, Chloe Deakin, wrote to the headmaster of Dulwich College, David Emms, asking him to reconsider his decision to appoint Farage as a prefect, citing concerns expressed by others over Farage's alleged 'fascist' views.

Emms rejected those concerns, as did the College's deputy headmaster, Terry Walsh, who said later that Farage "was well-known for provoking people, especially left-wing English teachers who had no sense of humour".

Farage later stated: "Any accusation [that] I was ever involved in far right politics is utterly untrue."

Known as a prominent Eurosceptic since the early 1990s, Farage campaigned for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

Farage was a founding 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 from 1994, he was elected MEP for South East England in the 1999 European Parliament election.

He served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 until the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union in 2020.

He was re-elected in the 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 European Parliament elections.

In the European Parliament, he was the president of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) where he was noted for his speeches, and as a vocal critic of the euro currency.

He became the leader of UKIP in September 2006, and led the party through the 2009 European elections, when it won the second-highest share of the UK popular vote, with over 2 million votes.

He stepped down in November 2009 to focus on contesting Buckingham, the constituency of the Speaker, John Bercow, at the 2010 general election, and came third.

Farage successfully stood in the November 2010 UKIP leadership contest, becoming leader once again after Lord Malcolm Pearson voluntarily stepped down.

A 2012 BBC Radio 4 profile described Guy Farage as an alcoholic who left the family home when Nigel was five years old.

He was ranked second in The Daily Telegraph Top 100 most influential right-wingers poll in 2013, behind Prime Minister David Cameron.

Farage was named "Briton of the Year" by The Times in 2014.

In the 2014 European elections, UKIP won 24 seats, the first time a party other than Labour or Conservative had won the largest number of seats in a national election since the December 1910 general election, pressuring Cameron to call a referendum on EU membership.

In the 2015 general election, UKIP secured over 3.8 million votes and 12.6% of the total vote, replacing the Liberal Democrats as the third most popular party, but secured only one seat.

Farage announced his resignation when he did not win the South Thanet seat, but his resignation was rejected and he remained as leader.

Farage was a prominent figure in the successful campaign for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum.

After the vote to leave the EU, Farage resigned as leader of UKIP, triggering a leadership election, but remained as an MEP.

He was the host of The Nigel Farage Show, a radio phone-in on the Global-owned talk radio station LBC, from 2017 to 2020.

In 2021, he resigned as leader of Reform UK and began a TV career as a presenter on GB News.

In 2023, Farage competed in the twenty-third series of the reality TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, finishing in third place.

Farage was born in Farnborough, Kent, England, the son of Barbara (née Stevens) and Guy Justus Oscar Farage.

His father was a stockbroker who worked in the City of London.

In December 2018, Farage stood down from UKIP.

He returned to frontline politics by launching the Brexit Party in 2019.

Drawing support from those frustrated with the delayed implementation of Brexit by Theresa May's government, the Brexit Party won the most votes in the May 2019 European elections, becoming the largest single party in the European Parliament; May announced her resignation later that month and was succeeded by Boris Johnson's government which ultimately delivered Brexit.