Farage to resign as UKIP leader in wake of ‘Brexit’ vote

The referendum result marked a personal success for Mr Farage, who in the early 1990s helped to found a party later described by Prime Minister David Cameron as “a bunch of fruitcakes, loonies, and closet racists”.

Leader of the U.K. Independence Party Nigel Frage announced Monday he was stepping down as party head, just two weeks after Britain voted to leave the EU.

He said: “Nigel has been a brilliant leader of the party”.

But on both occasions chose to stay.

“I don’t need to be leader of Ukip, I can be part of that 2020 campaign if we don’t get what we want”. “What I’m saying today is, “I want my life back”, and it begins right now”, said Mr Farage, who has two teenage daughters with his wife Kirsten Mehr, a German citizen.

Farage also rejected claims he was looking to set up a new party with UKIP donor Arron Banks, and said there was an early election he would not like to see UKIP MPs stand against Brexit-backing incumbents.

“If there is too much backsliding by the Government and with the Labour Party detached from many of its voters then UKIP’s best days may be yet to come”.

“An absolute priority is to bring in business people”, he added.

“The party basically has to be the party of common sense and say what the ordinary man and woman is saying on the street”.

UKIP has a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, three representatives in the House of Lords, and 22 MEPs, making it the largest United Kingdom party in the European Parliament.

Britain voted to leave the economic bloc in a historic referendum on June 23, in which 52 per cent Britons sided with Brexit to 48 per cent supporting United Kingdom within the EU. “My aim in being in politics was to get Britain out of the European Union”, he said yesterday.

Ukip chairman Steve Crowther announced that he is stepping down from the role, with Paul Oakden appointed as a temporary replacement until the new leader is chosen in September.