Nigel Farage 'quits politics' after stepping down as Reform Party leader

Nigel Farage is stepping back from front-line politics after he announced he's to stand down as leader of Reform UK, the political party he launched in spring 2019 as the Brexit Party.

The 56-year-old says he still wants to "go on influencing the debate" through the media and social media.

In a video on his Twitter feed, Mr Farage reflects upon his decision, recalls his entry into politics, and his fear of giving his first political speech at a church hall during the Eastleigh by-election in 1994.

Though having never been elected as an MP, he arguably remains one of the most influential political figures of recent times.

Born in Kent, he made the county his home for many years and was elected an MEP for the South East between 1999 and 2020.

A founding member of UKIP, he became its leader in 2009.

Despite standing as an MP on seven occasions - in Eastleigh, Salisbury, Bexhill and Battle, Bromley and Chislehurst , Buckingham, and twice in South Thanet, he was never elected to parliament.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Farage insisted he would leave party politics for good, despite previously doing so and then returning.

He said: "I know I've come back once or twice when people thought I'd gone, but this is it. It's done. It's over."

"Party politics, campaigning, being involved in elections, that is now over for me because I've achieved the one thing I set out to do: to achieve the independence of the UK."

"There is no going back - Brexit is done. That won't be reversed."