NIGEL Farage is a man who loves to make an exit.
It's what he's made his career on — in more ways and on more occassions than one.
His bestest, most favouritest exit is obviously the one we're all paying the price for now — Brexit. So good, they coined a neologism for it.
Scotland's flagship salmon sector alone has lost around £11 million over export paperwork problems since EU withdrawal took effect at the start of the year, the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation claims.
And there have been major problems with supplies in Northern Ireland, where tensions are growing over the protocol governing the movement of goods.
Tory Eurosceptics have called for that to be scrapped, and the DUP has launched a legal challenge, while the EU is also preparing a court move after the UK unilaterally moved to extend grace periods on border checks.
So it's all going really well.
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And as the going gets really tough, it's now the ideal time for former Ukip leader and MEP Farage to walk away from the mess he helped create.
He's announced he's leaving his Reform UK party leadership role now his "life's work" is complete.
So we'll probably not hear much from him now.
Except that he's promised to stay around to use his social media reach to campaign against what he calls the "woke agenda" and China's influence in the UK.
And, of course, Farage has quit politics and come back so many times that the process has practically become his full-time job.
If he was to utter the Scottish phrase "that's me away", it would be more of a question than a statement.
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Farage resigned his Ukip leadership after failing to win a general election seat in 2015, but was still in the job the next day after his resignation was rejected by the party.
He went through with the promise after the 2016 referendum only to spring back two years later and form the Brexit Party, now Reform UK.
But this time he says he's really out, telling the Sunday Telegraph's Chopper Politics podcast: "There’s no going back, Brexit is done.
"That won’t be reversed. I know I’ve come back once or twice when people thought I’d gone, but this is it. It’s done. It’s over."
It's nice that Nigel can step back comfortably, even though so many food producers, hauliers and ordinary workers are living with the uncertainty caused in part by his vocal agitating.
Well, maybe not nice. Maybe more typical of a mindset that puts an isolationist ideology above all else.
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Farage may have, as the Brexiteer slogan goes, taken back control of his life but he's left many small firms and their staff with far less.
And that's before we look at the impact of the resultant Internal Market Bill that's taken some control from devolved parliaments as a knock-on of a right-wing Brexit.
So happy retirement while it lasts, Nigel. Don't let the door hit you on the way out — or stoat you again if and when you decide you're not away after all.
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