Former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage has announced his resignation from the right-wing party after 25 years over its anti-Muslim positions.
Farage handed in his notice on Tuesday and said the party had become unrecognizable due to its “obsession” with the anti-Muslim policies under current leader, Gerard Batten.
“And I – with a very heavy heart, given how much I’ve cared for this party, the people within it – have reached, I think, a very sad decision, certainly very sad for me, that I simply can’t go on with it,” Farage said on a radio show.
“I don’t recognize the party as being the one I helped to found and fought for all of those years,” he added. “I believe the brand has been so damaged, so tarnished, that it’s not able to pick up and won’t be able to pick up the political opportunity that’s there, staring it in the face. So with very great reluctance I have, as of now, resigned my…