What Next for Nigel Farage? Brexit Leader Says He's Not Going Anywhere Just Yet

It was a big night for one of President Donald Trump's British friends on Thursday. But a damp squib for another.

As Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson stormed to victory in the U.K. election, securing a large majority, the Brexit Party head Nigel Farage was a little sidelined—winning no seats at all.

Farage decided to pull Brexit Party candidates from hundreds of seats to prevent a hung parliament, which would have likely meant a second referendum—and no Brexit.

Other candidates were left to stand in seats that would not have impacted the Conservatives' chances of winning a majority.

Farage, a supporter of Trump's who has appeared at the president's rallies, is widely credited with making Brexit happen after many years of campaigning on the issue.

While leading the U.K. Independence Party, Farage used his substantial political clout to pressure the Conservatives, then led by former Prime Minister David Cameron, into a referendum on leaving the E.U.

Now, with Johnson promising to "get Brexit done" Farage feels his mission is almost over. But it's not without disappointment—he hates Johnson's deal.

To Farage, the deal is not hard enough. He advocates a "clean break Brexit," more commonly referred to as no deal.

"The really important point is we will be leaving at the end of January," Farage told the radio station LBC on Friday morning.

"I don't like the deal as it currently is but in historical terms, there will be no second referendum and we are leaving, so it's a big result."

But he does not trust the Conservatives to deliver Brexit.

"Let's see where we are in six months," Farage told the BBC when asked if he would now step back from politics. "If we're back in crisis in six months, I'll have to put my hat back in the ring, won't I?"

Failing any crisis, Farage suggested the Brexit Party will morph into a movement for reform, including to change the U.K.'s electoral system from first-past-the-post to proportional representation.

Under the current constituency system, seats are decided in individual elections, which means they are not evenly distributed by the national vote share in a proportionate way.

While this advantages the two main parties—the Conservatives and Labour—it makes it incredibly hard for smaller parties like Farage's to break through.

"It'll become the reform party. It'll campaign for reform. One of the reforms, of course, being not having a first-past-the-post system and giving people real choice," Farage told the BBC.

The Brexit leader also told Sky News: "Getting Brexit does not end all political arguments but what is does do, is it will—done properly—take us back to being an independent, self-governing, democratic nation."

Farage is also rumored to be visiting the U.S. during the election campaign next year to appear at rallies with Trump, who has given his support to Brexit.

"If I'm asked to help I may," Farage told the BBC.

Newsweek contacted the Brexit Party for comment by email and will update this article if one is provided.