The life and times of Nigel Farage, controversial beer-swilling figurehead of Ukip and the Brexit campaign
We look back on the life of divisive 52-year-old as he steps down
NIGEL Farage, the man who divided a nation with his candid stance on Europe and immigration, resigned as Ukip leader this morning after ten years at the helm.
The 52-year-old was a controversial figure, rarely seen without a pint in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
He crusaded against political correctness and was figurehead of the Brexit campaign.
He has polarised opinion and is hated by his critics as strongly as he is loved by his supporters.
Nigel had been criticised by some for his heart-on-his-sleeve patriotism whilst being accused of vilifying migrants and hypocrisy for having a German wife.
Whether making tub-thumping comments about migrants exploiting the NHS for HIV medicines or facing off against Bob Geldoff on a Thames flotilla, Nigel knew how to make his voice heard.
Born in Downe, Kent to a stockbroker father, he was a staunch Conservative in his school days.
He was educated at independent school Dulwich College, but swerved a university education in favour of a job in the city, trading commodities at the London Metal Exchange.
Farage quit the torys in 1992 in protest over PM John Major's European policy.
He even admits to voting for the Green Party in his formative years.
In 1993 he became a a founding member of Ukip.
Four years later Ukip's 194 general election candidates failed to win a single seat and the party secured just 0.3 per cent of the national vote.
But Farage emerged as a shining light for the party, the only candidate to win more than five per cent of the vote.
He was first elected leader of the UK independence party in September 2006, defeating his nearest rivals by a landslide.
At the time he pledged to bring Ukip into the mainstream and prove it was more than a single issue party.
He led Ukip to in impressive European Parliament election in 2009, pulling in 2.5 million votes.
Farage stood down in 2009 as he focused on an unsuccessful bid to become MP in Buckingham, losing out to Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.
A year later he was re-elected as leader of the party, assuming control from Lord Pearson.
He has been elected to the European Parliament on four occasions - in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
As MEP he quickly became renowned for his outspoken views and impassioned, heart-on-his-sleeve speeches.
He went to war with the European Commission over member holidays, even gaining enough support to table an unsuccessful motion of no confidence against its president José Manuel Barroso.
Farage was ranked the fifth most influential MEP by Politico in 2016, who described him as, "one of the two most effective speakers in the chamber."
Despite his place at the European table, Farage unsuccessfully contested British parliamentary elections for Ukip five times.
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In fact the party has only ever had twos MP, Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless - both Conservative defectors.
But it was the 2013 general election when Farage and Ukip really made their presence known.
Under Nigel's leadership, the right wing part surged to its best-ever performance, winning 23 per cent of the vote in the local elections - beating Labour and finishing just 2 per cent behind the Conservatives.
Ukip won 147 council seats and more than a fifth of people who voted for them pledged to do the same again in the 2015 General Election.
Two years later the party pulled in more than 4 million votes, but only had one MP elected, prompting his first infamous resignation speech.
But it will be the stunning Brexit victory in the UK's In-Out referendum on Europe that will put his name in the history books.
A political high for the vocal Euro-sceptic, Farage was considered the mouthpiece of the Leave campaign.
Shortly after the victory he was slammed after appearing on Good Morning Britain and describing an Out campaign pledge, to return £350million of European money to the NHS, as "a mistake".
He has proven to be a survivor in life as well as the political realm, overcoming some momentous health scares.
Farage had a testicle removed after being diagnosed with cancer, which he said in his autobiography left his ball "the size of a lemon".
In 2010 he survived a plane crash after his light aircraft flipped upside down and nosedived into a field during an election stunt.
He was pulled bloodied from the wreckage suffering broken ribs and a punctured lung.after the accident at Hinton-in-the-Hedges airfield, near Brackley, Northants.
This is the second time Farage has quit the leadership post, having already stepped down after the last general election.
He was famously reappointed days after his announcement after a u-turn.
He said: "They presented me with petitions, signatures, statements from candidates saying it would be a bad thing for Ukip.
"So I left the meeting, went and sat in darkened room to think about what to do, and decided for the interest of the party I would accept their kind offer for me to stay and tear up the letter."
But this time he says it is for good, claiming he wants to reclaim his personal life.
In his first speech since the referendum he said: “I have never been and never wanted to be a career politician. I now feel I have done my bit.”
Farage has been married twice, first to Irish nurse Gráinne Hayes who he married in 1988.
Nigel Farage's parting words as he announces his resignation as UKIP leader
I came into politics from business because I believed that this nation should be self governing. I have never been and I have never wanted to be a career politician.
My aim in being in politics was to get Britain out of the European Union that is what we voted for in that referendum two weeks ago.
And that is why I now feel that I have done my bit, that I couldn’t possibly achieve more than we managed to get in that referendum. And so I feel it’s right that I should now stand aside as leader of Ukip.
I will support the new leader. I will watch the re-negotiation process in Brussels like a hawk and perhaps comment in the European Parliament from time to time.
During the referendum campaign I said I want my country back, and I’m saying today I want my life back. And it begins right now.
They met after he was put under her care in hospital after he was hit by a car and only narrowly avoided having his leg amputated.
The couple had two children Samuel, 27, and Thomas, 24, but they couple divorced in 1997.
In 1999 he married Kirsten Mehr, a German national, and they have two children, Victoria and Isabelle.
He has said his children have been targets of abuse because of his political views.
A keen fisherman, a real ale advocate and, in his own words, a "somewhat lapsed" Christian - Farage liked nothing more to be seen as a man of the people.
He bows out as one of the most controversial and polarising figures in recent political history.
Nigel Farage in his own words
"You can come into Britain from anywhere in the world and get diagnosed with HIV and get the retro-viral drugs that cost up to £25,000 per year per patient.
"What we need to do is to put the NHS there for British people and families" - on Migrants abusing the NHS for HIV drugs
"I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me.
"Well I have to say, you're not laughing now" - to MEPs after Brexit victory
"I think they made mistake in doing that" - To Good Morning Britain presenters on the Out Campaign's pledge to return £350m EU funds to the NHS
"We will have done it without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired" - Farage on Brexit campaign days after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death.
"Any normal and fair-minded person would have a perfect right to be concerned if a group of Romanian people suddenly moved in next door" - On immigration
"What it does have to do with is a population that is going through the roof, chiefly because of open-door immigration" - On why it took him six hours to drive to Wales
“If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you’re going for?” - Defending a colleague who used a racist term for Chinese people
"I think the doctors have got it wrong on smoking" - When a reporter asked him why he was back on the fags
"She is worth far less to the employer when she comes back than when she goes away" - On women who take maternity leave
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