Nigel Farage says he is stepping down as UKIP leader because he wants his life back

Having achieved his goal of independence from the European Union, Nigel Farage is stepping down from his leadership role at the pro-Brexit right-wing party, UKIP, he announced on Monday.

The reason is apparently work-life balance. “During the election I said, ‘I want my country back’ – but now I want my life back,” said Farage, who first ran for a Parliamentary seat in 1994.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Farage also said now he has nothing left to achieve.

“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,” said Farage, who was leader of UKIP from 2006 until 2009, before returning after the 2010 general election.

Farage briefly stood down in 2015 after failing to win a House of Commons seat but then reversed that decision just a few days later. Farage insisted on Monday that he “won’t be changing my mind again, I promise you.”

Douglas Carswell, the only elected UKIP Member of Parliament and who has publicly sparred with Farage, tweeted this morning after the news.

Carswell told BBC News that “I tweet smiley faces all the time, I’m very optimistic.”

In response, Farage said “I’m pleased he’s smiling because it’s not something I’ve seen very often from him,” according to BuzzFeed News.

Farage’s exit comes just days after Boris Johnson, another Brexit leader, said he would not run for Conservative party leader.

Conspiracy theorists, though, have plenty to work with. Singer Lily Allen tweeted a photo on Sunday of Farage and Rupert Murdoch at a garden party.

It’s unclear what’s next for Farage, although he said he would consider to serve as a Member of the European Parliament until Britain leaves the EU. He suggested he would return in some capacity in the 2020 election.