Nigel Farage has clarified that he is “not retiring” from political life following his stepping down as Ukip leader.
The eurosceptic politician and MEP made his comments in an interview on the first morning of his party’s conference in Bournemouth on the south coast.
The two-day gathering, the party’s first major conference since the EU referendum result, will see the announcement of Mr Farage’s successor.
Mr Farage, who has twice stepped down as leader before and twice returned – said he would support whoever was elected leader, but that he would now “have a bit of life” to himself.
“Things move on in life, I’ve been doing this for over two decades, I’ve done my bit, I’ve pushed the party on, we won [the] referendum, it’s time for somebody else to take up the reigns,” he told ITV1’s Good Morning Britain programme.
“So look, I’m stepping back from the frontlines, I’m not retiring, I’m not going away, I will support whoever the next leader is but I will also, for the first time in years, have a bit of a life as well.”
Mr Farage has long been the face of Ukip and a regular media performer. One of the most regular panelists in history of the BBC Question Time programme, his ubiquity has at times led to Ukip being branded a “one-man band”.
The runners and riders to replace Mr Farage are Diane James, the co-deputy chair of the party, Elizabeth Jones, an NEC member, Bill Etheridge, an MEP for the West Midlands, Lisa Duffy, a councilor and official, and Phillip Broughton, the party’s candidate for Hartlepool at the 2015 general election.
The election comes amid a low-level factional civil war in the party. Mr Farage last night hit out at the party’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, who he accused of not supporting large parts of the party’s platform.
