The leader of the United Kingdom’s conservative Independence Party announced on Monday that he was stepping down, saying his goal had never been to become “a career politician.”
“My aim in being in politics was to get Britain out of the European Union,” UKIP leader Nigel Farage told reporters. “During the referendum campaign, I said, ‘I want my country back’. What I’m saying today, is, ‘I want my life back,’ and it begins right now.”
Thank you to all my supporters in @UKIP and beyond. Delighted with the result we fought for so long to achieve. #BrexitBritain
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 4, 2016
“The victory for the ‘Leave’ side in the referendum means that may political ambition has been achieved,” Farage added, speaking in reference to the country’s “Brexit” vote last month to leave the EU. “I have never been, and I have never wanted to be, a career politician.”
The 52-year-old Farage, a former commodities trader first elected to the European Parliament in 1999, became a leading figure in the move for independence, even gaining a measure of transatlantic fame.
His announcement comes after the June 24 resignation of British Prime Minister David Cameron, whom a handful of contenders are now seeking to replace. Cameron’s successor will be responsible for overseeing the two-year process of negotiating terms for Britain’s departure from the EU.
