Nigel Farage
© Phil Noble / Reuters
Brexit campaigner and MEP Nigel Farage has announced he is stepping down as leader of UKIP.

"I have never been and I have never wanted to be a career politician," he said in a speech on Monday morning.

"I couldn't possibly achieve more than we managed to achieve in the referendum. So I think it's right that I should stand aside as leader of UKIP."

Now that, as he sees it, he has his country back, Farage said he is ready to get "his life back."


Comment: A bit premature to say he has his country back!


Farage, who returned to the leadership almost immediately after resigning from his post in the wake of a disappointing UKIP result at the 2015 general election, has ruled out the possibility of changing his mind once more.

With questionable sincerity, Farage joked it is a "terribly good idea" for Douglas Carswell, UKIP's only MP and a fierce critic of the incumbent, to become the next UKIP leader.

Carswell, who during the referendum campaign attacked Farage for the "indefensible" posters depicting a mass of immigrants queuing to get into Britain under the heading "Breaking Point," reacted to the news by tweeting a smiling emoji wearing sunglasses. Acknowledging that reaction, Farage said, "I'm pleased that he is smiling because that's not something I have seen very often from him."

He refrained from backing any particular candidate for the Conservative Party leadership, but said he or she must be a Brexit supporter. Frontrunner Home Secretary Theresa May backed the Remain campaign, while Andrea Leadsom and Michael Gove are pro-Brexit.

Meanwhile, more than 60,000 people have signed a petition for Farage - who will remain an MEP in the European Parliament for the next two years - to be involved in negotiations for Britain to leave the European Union.