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In economics, a bailout is an act of loaning or giving capital to an entity (a company, a country, or an individual) that is in danger of failing, in an attempt to save it from bankruptcy, insolvency, or total liquidation and ruin; or to allow a failing entity to fail gracefully without spreading contagion.^[1]

Overview[link]

A bailout could be done for mere profit, as when a predatory investor resurrects a floundering company by buying its shares at fire-sale prices; for social improvement, as when, hypothetically speaking, a wealthy philanthropist reinvents an unprofitable fast food company into a non-profit food distribution network; or the bailout of a company might be seen as a necessity in order to prevent greater, socioeconomic failures: For example, the US government assumes transportation to be the backbone of America's general economic fluency, which maintains the nation's geopolitical power.^[2] As such, it is the policy of the US government to protect the biggest American companies responsible for transportation (airliners, petrol companies, etc.) from failure through subsidies and low-interest loans. These companies, among others, are deemed "too big to fail" because their goods and services are considered by the government to be constant universal necessities in maintaining the nation's welfare and often, indirectly, its security.^[3][4]

Emergency-type government bailouts can be controversial. Debates raged in 2008 over if and how to bail out the failing auto industry in the United States. Those against it, like pro-free market radio personality Hugh Hewitt, saw this bailout as an unacceptable passing-of-the-buck to taxpayers. He denounced any bailout for the Big Three, arguing that mismanagement caused the companies to fail, and they now deserve to be dismantled organically by the free-market forces so that entrepreneurs may arise from the ashes; that the bailout signals lower business standards for giant companies by incentivizing risk, creating moral hazard through the assurance of safety nets (that others will pay for) that ought not be, but unfortunately are, considered in business equations; and that a bailout promotes centralized bureaucracy by allowing government powers to choose the terms of the bailout.

Others, such as economist Jeffrey Sachs^[5] have characterized this particular bailout as a necessary evil and have argued that the probable incompetence in management of the car companies is an insufficient reason to let them fail completely and risk disturbing the (current) delicate economic state of the United States, since up to three million jobs rest on the solvency of the Big Three and things are bleak enough as it is. In any case, the bones of contention here can be generalized to represent the issues at large, namely the virtues of private enterprise versus those of central planning, and the dangers of a free market's volatility versus the dangers of socialist bureaucracy.

Furthermore, government bailouts are criticized as corporate welfare, which encourages corporate irresponsibility.

Governments around the world have bailed out their nations' businesses with some frequency since the early 20th century. In general, the needs of the entity/entities bailed out are subordinate to the needs of the state.

Themes[link]

From the many bailouts over the course of the 20th century, certain principles and lessons have emerged that are consistent:^[6][7][8][9]

• Central banks provide loans to help the system cope with liquidity concerns, where banks are unable or unwilling to provide loans to businesses or individuals. Lending into illiquidity, but not insolvency, was articulated at least as early as 1873, in Lombard Street, A Description of the Money Market, by Walter Bagehot.
• Let insolvent institutions (those with insufficient funds to pay their short-term obligations or those with more debt than assets) fail in an orderly way.
• Understand the true financial position of key financial institutions, through audits or other means. Ensure the extent of losses and quality of assets are known and reported by the institutions.^[10]
• Banks that are deemed healthy enough (or important enough) to survive require recapitalization, which involves the government providing funds to the bank in exchange for preferred stock, which receives a cash dividend over time.^[11]
• If taking over an institution due to insolvency, take effective control through the board or new management, cancel the common stock equity (existing shareholders lose their investment) but protect the debt holders and suppliers.
• Government should take an ownership (equity or stock) interest to the extent taxpayer assistance is provided, so that taxpayers can benefit later. In other words, the government becomes the owner and can later obtain funds by issuing new common stock shares to the public when the nationalized institution is later privatized.
• A special government entity is created to administer the program, such as the Resolution Trust Corporation.
• Prohibit dividend payments to ensure taxpayer money are used for loans and strengthening the bank, rather than payments to investors.
• Interest rate cuts to lower lending rates and stimulate the economy.

Reasons against bailouts[link]

• Signals lower business standards for giant companies by incentivizing risk
• Creates moral hazard through the assurance of safety nets
• Promotes centralized bureaucracy by allowing government powers to choose the terms of the bailout
• Instills a corporatist style of government in which businesses use the state's power to forcibly extract money from taxpayers.

Paul Volcker, chairman of Barack Obama's White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board, said that bailouts create moral hazard: they signal to the firms that they can take reckless risks, and if the risks are realized, taxpayers pay the losses, also in the future. "The danger is the spread of moral hazard could make the next crisis much bigger".^[12]

On November 24, 2008, American Republican Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) wrote, "In bailing out failing companies, they are confiscating money from productive members of the economy and giving it to failing ones. By sustaining companies with obsolete or unsustainable business models, the government prevents their resources from being liquidated and made available to other companies that can put them to better, more productive use. An essential element of a healthy free market, is that both success and failure must be permitted to happen when they are earned. But instead with a bailout, the rewards are reversed – the proceeds from successful entities are given to failing ones. How this is supposed to be good for our economy is beyond me.... It won’t work. It can’t work... It is obvious to most Americans that we need to reject corporate cronyism, and allow the natural regulations and incentives of the free market to pick the winners and losers in our economy, not the whims of bureaucrats and politicians."^[13]

Costs[link]

In 2000, World Bank reported that banking bailouts cost an average of 12.8% of GDP.^[14] The report stated:

Governments and, thus ultimately taxpayers, have largely shouldered the direct costs of banking system collapses. These costs have been large: in our sample of 40 countries governments spent on average 12.8 percent of national GDP to clean up their financial systems.

Cases[link]

• 1970 - Penn Central Railroad
• 1971 - Lockheed Corporation
• 1980 - Chrysler Corporation
• 1984 - Continental Illinois^[3]
• 1991 - Executive Life Insurance Company, by states assessing other insurers
• 1998 - Long-Term Capital Management, by banks and investment houses, not government (see LTCM page).
• 2003 - Parmalat
• 2008 - The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc.
• 2008 - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• 2008 - The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. bailed out by the federal government and Berkshire Hathaway
• 2008 - Morgan Stanley bailed out by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ
• 2008-2009 - American International Group, Inc. multiple times
• 2008 - Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008^[15]
• 2008 - 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package
• 2008 - Citigroup Inc.
• 2008 - General Motors Corporation and Chrysler LLC- though not technically a bailout, a bridge loan was given to the auto manufacturers by the U.S. government, this is referred to by most as a bailout
• 2009 - Bank of America to help it absorb known losses that were much greater than revealed to shareholders incurred by its buyout of Merrill Lynch
• 2009 - CIT Group $3 billion by its bondholders in a failed attempt to avoid a bankruptcy. This bailout only delayed the bankruptcy.
• 2009 - Dubai and Dubai World bailed out by Abu Dhabi

Irish banking rescue[link]

Irish banks suffered substantial share price falls due to a lack of liquidity in finance available to them on the international financial markets. Currently, solvency is being revealed as the most serious concern as doubtful loans to property developers, still undeclared in bad debt provisions, come into focus.

Swedish banking rescue[link]

During 1991–1992, a housing bubble in Sweden deflated, resulting in a severe credit crunch and widespread bank insolvency. The causes were similar to those of the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–2008. In response, the government took the following actions:^[16]

• Sweden's government assumed bad bank debts, but banks had to write down losses and issue an ownership interest (common stock) to the government. Shareholders were typically wiped out, but bondholders were protected.
• When distressed assets were later sold, the profits flowed to taxpayers, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the companies in public offerings.
• The government announced the state would guarantee all bank deposits and creditors of the nation’s 114 banks.
• Sweden formed a new agency to supervise institutions that needed recapitalization, and another that sold off the assets, mainly real estate, that the banks held as collateral.

This bailout initially cost about 4% of Sweden's GDP, later lowered to between 0–2% of GDP depending on various assumptions due to the value of stock later sold when the nationalized banks were privatized.

U.S. Savings and Loan Crisis[link]

In response to widespread bank insolvency as a result of the Savings and Loan crisis, the United States established the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) in 1989.

US TARP and related programs[link]

In 2008-9 the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve System bailed out numerous very large banks and insurance companies, as well as General Motors and Chrysler. Congress at the urgent request of President George W. Bush passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program or "TARP", funded at $700 billion^[17]. The banks have largely repaid the money and the net cost of TARP may eventually be in the range of $30 billion.^[18] The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, which insure mortgages, totals $135 billion by October 2010, and could be much higher, depending on the future of the housing and mortgage markets.^[19]

The issue of federal bailouts of the banks and big corporations became a major issue of the 2010 elections, with the Tea Party movement in particular focusing its attack on bailouts.^[20]

See also[link]

Specific:

• Automotive industry crisis of 2008–2009
• Brown Bailout
• Crédit Lyonnais
• Debtor-in-possession financing
• Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
• Financial crisis of 2007–2010
• Late 2000s recession
• Subprime mortgage crisis
• Lemon socialism

General:

• Bankruptcy
• Bubble (economics)
• Cash flow
• Lender of last resort
• Financial crisis
• Nationalization
• Recapitalization
• Stock market crash

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• "Financial crisis : Carping about the TARP: Congress wrangles over how best to avoid financial Armageddon", The Economist, September 23, 2008
• "Behind the Bailout" — NOW on PBS 09/26/2008
• Muolo, Paul. $700 Billion Bailout. New York: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-46256-0. 
• IMF Study Laevan and Valencia September 2008
• Wright, Robert E. ed. Bailouts: Public Money, Private Profit (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009).
• Wright, Robert E. Fubarnomics: A Lighthearted, Serious Look at America's Economic Ills (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2010).

External links[link]

Look up bailout in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Bailout Reader - A resource against bailouts from a libertarian perspective
• Bailout Bandwagon - Video satire about bailouts and the economic impact on everyday citizens
• Toxic Assets Reduction Plan Release by The Justice Dept: 23Mar2009
• US bailout total-29.616 trillion dollars

United States[link]

• NoBailout.org - An anti-bailout website with an updated list of elected officials in support of bailout
• New Deal in the 21-st Century

Neil M. Barofsky (born 1970) was the Special United States Treasury Department Inspector General to oversee the Troubled Assets Relief Program into 2011, but submitted his resignation in February. He is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Education[link]

Barofsky completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a bachelors degree in economics from Wharton School of Business. He graduated with honors from New York University School of Law in 1995.^[1]

Troubled Asset Relief Program and Special Inspector Generalship[link]

This section requires expansion.

Barofsky, "[a] life-long Democrat who donated money to the Obama campaign,"^[2] was nominated for the job of overseeing the TARP by President George W. Bush on November 14, 2008^[3] and was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 8, 2008, after confirmation was delayed by an anonymous Republican Senator.^[4]

Until he was confirmed, the role was handled internally by the Treasury Department's inspector general, Eric Thorson, who has expressed concerns about the difficulty of properly overseeing the complex program in addition to his regular responsibilities.^[5]

As Inspector General, Barofsky has been called "easily been one of the most impressive and courageous political officials in Washington"^[2] for his willingness to "stand up to some of the most powerful people and institutions in Washington or on Wall Street."^[6] He "vigilantly fought for his independence as TARP watchdog and has been relentless in his criticism of Treasury officials and especially Tim Geithner."^[2] The TARP program money was used to invest in and in some cases rescue a number of banks, the automakers GM and Chrysler, the insurance company AIG as well as a number of housing companies. The role of chief watchdog of the government’s $700 billion TARP program was to root out and prosecute waste, fraud and abuse. Under Mr. Barofsky the office published 9 quarterly results and 13 audits.^[7][8]

On February 14, 2011 Mr. Barofsky sent a letter to President Obama stating that he would resign his post on March 30, 2011, to spend more time with his family. At the time of his resignation his office had more than 140 investigations underway ^[8] and his office has charged a few dozen people with civil or criminal fraud, resulting in 14 convictions for fraud, more than $550 million in fraud losses avoided, and $150 million in fraudulent earnings recovered for taxpayers.^[7][9] "[O]ne Treasury official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak more candidly, was quoted as saying '[H]e's been consistently wrong about a lot of big things."^[10] Commentator Glenn Greenwald noted the unnamed official had made the assertion about Barofsky "without identifying a single alleged error," and attacked the "utter cowardice and lack of professionalism needed to produce this passage" on the part of both the newspaper and the official.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program". http://www.sigtarp.gov/. 

Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt Purcell^[1] (born 17 February 1970) is an Australian actor of Norwegian, Irish and English heritage, best known for his role as Lincoln Burrows in Prison Break, the title character in John Doe, and Dracula in Blade: Trinity.

Life and career[link]

Purcell was born in Wallasey, Wirral, which, until 1974 when the county of Merseyside was formed, was part of Cheshire. At the age of two, Dominic and his family moved from England to Sydney's Bondi and later moved to the Western Suburbs.^[2] He is also of Irish and Norwegian descent. Purcell attended Blaxland East Public School, and later studied at Blaxland High School and St Dominic's College, Penrith. After becoming a landscape gardener, he soon tired of the profession and, while watching the war movie Platoon, decided to become an actor.^{[citation needed]}

He eventually attended the Australian Theatre for Young People and then later enrolled at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts where he met his future wife Rebecca and studied with Hugh Jackman.^{[citation needed]} With his wife, Rebecca Williamson, he had a son Joseph (b. August 12th 1999), daughter Audrey (b. January 30th 2001), and twins Lily-Rose and Augustus (b. July 7th 2003).

Purcell began dating actress AnnaLynne McCord in 2011.^[3]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Film[link]

Video games[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dominic Purcell at the Internet Movie Database

Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies (1978), earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case. He earned both a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Runaway Train (1985). Through the 1990s and 2000s he maintained dramatic film and TV-movie roles while appearing in TV series. His television work includes three seasons with the sitcom Less than Perfect and a recurring role on the NBC drama Heroes. His sisters Julia Roberts and Lisa Roberts Gillan, and daughter Emma Roberts, are also actors.

Career[link]

Eric got his start on the now-defunct NBC daytime soap opera Another World originating the role of Ted Bancroft from February 14, 1977, to June 17, 1977.

Roberts received Golden Globe nominations for his early starring roles in King of the Gypsies (1978) and Star 80 (1983). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for his role as the escaped convict Buck in the film Runaway Train. In 1987, he won the Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut performance in Burn This.

Roberts's other starring roles included Raggedy Man (1981), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), The Coca-Cola Kid (1985), Nobody's Fool (1986), Best of the Best (1989), By the Sword (1991), Best of the Best 2 (1993), The Immortals (1995), La Cucaracha (1998), Purgatory (1999), and Stiletto Dance (2001). He also had major supporting roles in Final Analysis (1992), The Specialist (1994), and the film Shannon's Rainbow (2009). He played the Archangel Michael in The Prophecy II (1997).

In 1996, he appeared in the Doctor Who Television film in the role of the fourth Master. As of 2011, he is the only American actor to play the role. When SFX listed previous Masters in Doctor Who, the magazine said of Roberts: "Out-acted by a CGI snake in the same production."

His recent projects include A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, DOA: Dead or Alive and Royal Kill. He appeared in The Dark Knight as Sal Maroni, a Gotham City Mafia boss who hires The Joker to kill the titular superhero and a renegade mob accountant.^[1]

Roberts co-starred on the ABC situation comedy Less than Perfect. He appeared in an episode of CSI: Miami as Ken Kramer, a murderer on death row convicted of killing a young couple. Another notable TV appearance was the episode "Victims" of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit where he played Sam Winfield, a former cop turned vigilante. In the same year, he was also guest starred on The L Word as Gabriel McCutcheon, the father of Shane McCutcheon. In early January 2007, Roberts starred in the two-part mini-series Pandemic as the mayor of Los Angeles.

Roberts voiced the Superman villain Mongul in the animated series Justice League and reprised his role in Justice League Unlimited in the episode "For the Man Who Has Everything". He performed the voice of Dark Danny in Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom. He appeared in the first season of Heroes as Thompson, an associate of Mr. Bennet.^[2] He then reprised the role in the third-season episode "Villains" and in the fourth-season "The Wall".

Roberts appeared in The Killers music video for their song "Mr. Brightside" as well as in the music videos for Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" and "It's Like That". In 2006, he appeared in the video for Akon's "Smack That", featuring Eminem. In 2007, he appeared in the video for Godhead's "Hey You". He appeared as a panelist on the television game show Hollywood Squares. In February 2009, Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, who starred with Roberts in The Pope of Greenwich Village, said he hoped that Roberts would soon be offered a role which would resurrect his career in the way that The Wrestler rejuvenated Rourke's.^[3]

He portrayed Seth Blanchard on the second season of the Starz series, Crash, from 2009. In 2009, Roberts appeared as himself in "Tree Trippers", a season five episode of Entourage. He is portrayed as a mushroom and drug fanatic as he gives the boys mushrooms and joins them to Joshua Tree National Park to trip as they contemplate Vince's next movie decision. It was announced in June 2010 that he would be joining the cast of the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless starting July 12.^[4] In 2010, he appeared in the action film The Expendables. Later that year, he appeared alongside Steve Austin and Gary Daniels, his co-stars from The Expendables, in the 2010 action film Hunt to Kill. December 2010 saw the premiere of the fourth season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which documented Roberts' struggle with dependancy on medical marijuana. Roberts starred in the 2012 mystery thriller Deadline, playing the role of politically-incorrect reporter Ronnie Bullock.

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Roberts' daughter Emma Roberts, with his then-girlfriend Kelly Cunningham, was born on February 10, 1991. Emma eventually became an actress as well, making her film debut at age 9 in the 2001 drama Blow. After Roberts' relationship with Cunningham, he married Eliza Garrett in 1992. His stepson, Keaton Simons, is a singer-songwriter and his stepdaughter, Morgan Simons, is a chef.^[5]

On January 12, 2001, Roberts visited The Howard Stern Radio Show with his wife during a segment called "The Gossip Game" with Mike Walker of the National Enquirer. He confirmed that he and his sister Julia Roberts had been estranged for several years. The source of the estrangement had been his past drug abuse and her siding with his ex-girlfriend over the custody of his daughter Emma Roberts. In 2004, he told People magazine that he and his sister reconciled when he visited her in the hospital after she gave birth to twins.^[6]

Arrests[link]

In 1987, Roberts was arrested for possession of cocaine and marijuana and resisting arrest after he tried to assault a New York police officer.^[7] He spent 36 hours in jail, pleaded guilty to harassment, and had all other charges dropped.^[8]

In February 1995, Roberts was arrested for shoving his wife, Eliza Garrett, into a wall.^[7] He subsequently announced that he was giving up drug use entirely.^[8]

Rehab[link]

Roberts appeared as a cast member in the fourth season of the Vh1 reality television series Celebrity Rehab, for a dependency on medical marijuana.^[9] His wife, Eliza and his stepson, Keaton Simons, appeared in Episode 6 to discuss the effects of his addiction on their lives.^[10]

Diet[link]

Roberts is a vegan and supporter of animal rights.^{[11][12][13][14]}

In popular culture[link]

An episode of the satiric cartoon series South Park featured Roberts as a star in a re-enactment of America's Most Wanted. He plays the genetically engineered half-man, half-monkey sidekick of the character Mephisto. The portrayal is less than kind, depicting Roberts as a washed-up overactor. During the re-enactment's taping, a snowstorm forces a group of characters to resort to cannibalism, and they quickly decide on Roberts because "nobody gives a shit about Eric Roberts".

He was also name-checked in an episode of Seinfeld; after giving away the ending of the film, Kramer tells George that Roberts' performance as the husband in the film The Other Side of Darkness was "unforgettable".

He was portrayed as a clay figure on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch where he fought alongside his sister, Julia, against Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond.

Roberts was mentioned by Pearl Forrester and Leonard Maltin in Mystery Science Theater 3000 - in the Gorgo episode (episode 9, season 9) – as the perfect companion to Mickey Rourke for producing the "worst movie ever made."

Selected filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Eric Roberts at the Internet Movie Database
• Eric Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database
• Eric Roberts at AllRovi

Nigel Farage MEP
Leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 November 2010
Preceded by	Jeffrey Titford
In office 27 September 2006 – 27 November 2009
Preceded by	Roger Knapman
Succeeded by	Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Member of the European Parliament for South East England
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 July 1999
Personal details
Born	(1964-04-03) 3 April 1964 (age 48) Kent, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	UK Independence Party
Spouse(s)	Gráinne Hayes (1988-1997, divorced) Kirsten Mehr (1999-present)
Children	4
Alma mater	Dulwich College
Religion	Church of England
Website	Nigel Farage MEP

Nigel Paul Farage ( /ˈfærɑːʒ/, FARR-ahzh;^[1] born 3 April 1964, Farnborough, Kent), is a British politician and is the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP),^[2] a position he also held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

Farage is a founding member of the UKIP, having left the Conservative Party in 1992 after they signed the Maastricht Treaty. Having unsuccessfully campaigned in European and Westminster parliamentary elections for UKIP since 1994, he gained a seat as an MEP for South East England in the 1999 European Parliament Election — the first year the regional list system was used — and was re-elected in 2004 and 2009. Farage describes himself as a libertarian and rejects the notion that he is a conservative.

In September 2006, Farage became the UKIP Leader and led the party through the 2009 European Parliament Election in which it received the second highest share of the popular vote, defeating Labour and the Liberal Democrats with over two million votes. However he stepped down in November 2009 to concentrate on contesting the Speaker John Bercow's seat of Buckingham in the 2010 general election.

At the 2010 General Election, Farage failed to unseat John Bercow and received only the third highest share of the vote in the constituency. Shortly after the polls opened on 6 May 2010, Nigel Farage was injured in an aircraft crash in Northamptonshire. The two-seated PZL-104 Wilga 35A had been towing a pro-UKIP banner when it flipped over and crashed shortly after takeoff. Both Farage and the pilot were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.^[3]

In November 2010, Farage successfully stood in the 2010 UKIP leadership contest,^[4] following the resignation of its leader, Lord Pearson of Rannoch. Farage was also ranked 41st (out of 100) in The Daily Telegraph's Top 100 most influential right-wingers poll in October 2009, citing his media savvy and his success with UKIP in the European Elections.^[5] Farage was ranked 58th in the 2010 list compiled by Iain Dale and Brian Brivati for the Daily Telegraph.

Background[link]

Farage was educated at Dulwich College before joining a commodity brokerage firm in London. He ran his own brokerage business from the early 1990s until 2002. In his early 20s Farage was diagnosed with testicular cancer but made a full recovery.^[6]

Farage has been married twice. He married Gráinne Hayes in 1988, with whom he had two children: Samuel (1989) and Thomas (1991). In 1999 he married Kirsten Mehr, a German national, by whom he has two more children, Victoria (born 2000) and Isabelle (born 2005).^[7]

Farage has also penned his own memoirs, entitled "Fighting Bull." It outlines the founding of UKIP and his personal and political life so far.

Political career[link]

Conservative Party[link]

Active in the Conservative Party from his school days, Farage left the party in 1992 when John Major's government signed the Treaty on European Union at Maastricht.

UKIP and the European Parliament[link]

Farage became a founding member of UKIP in 1993.

He was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009. Farage is presently the leader of the thirteen-member UKIP contingent in the European Parliament, and co-leader of the multinational eurosceptic group, Europe of Freedom and Democracy.

UKIP party leadership[link]

On 12 September 2006, Farage was elected leader of UKIP with 45% of the vote, 20% ahead of his nearest rival.^[8] He pledged to bring discipline to the party and to maximise UKIP's representation in local, parliamentary and other elections.^{[citation needed]} In a PM programme interview on BBC Radio 4 that day he pledged to end the public perception of UKIP as a single-issue party and to work with allied politicians in the Better Off Out campaign, committing himself not to stand against the MPs who have signed up to that campaign (ten in all at this moment).

At his maiden speech to the UKIP conference on 8 October 2006, he told delegates that the party was "at the centre-ground of British public opinion" and the "real voice of opposition". Farage said: "We've got three social democratic parties in Britain — Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative are virtually indistinguishable from each other on nearly all the main issues" and "you can't put a cigarette paper between them and that is why there are nine million people who don't vote now in general elections that did back in 1992."^[9]

At 10pm on 19 October 2006, Farage took part in a three-hour live interview and phone-in with James Whale on national radio station talkSPORT. Four days later, Whale announced on his show his intention to stand as UKIP's candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral Election. Farage said that Whale "not only has guts, but an understanding of what real people think". However Whale later decided not to stand and UKIP was represented by Gerard Batten.^[10] He stood again for UKIP leadership in 2010 after his successor Lord Pearson stood down.^[4] On the 5th November 2010 it was announced Farage had won the leadership contest.^[11]

Westminster elections[link]

Farage had unsuccessfully contested UK parliamentary elections for UKIP five times, both before and after his election as an MEP in 1999. Under the 2002 European Union decision to forbid MEPs from holding a dual mandate, if he was ever elected to the House of Commons, he would have to resign his seat as an MEP.

When he contested the Bromley & Chislehurst constituency in a May 2006 by-election, organised after the sitting MP representing it, eurosceptic Conservative Eric Forth, died, Farage came third, winning 8% of the vote, beating the Labour Party candidate. This was the second-best by-election result recorded by UKIP out of 25 results, and the first time since the Liverpool Walton by-election in 1991 that a party in government had been pushed into fourth place in a parliamentary by-election on mainland Britain.

2010 UK General election[link]

On 4 September 2009 Farage resigned as leader of UKIP to concentrate on his campaign to become Member of Parliament for Buckingham at Westminster in the 2010 general election.^[12] He later told Times journalist Camilla Long that UKIP internal fights took up too much time.^[13]

He stood against Buckingham MP John Bercow, the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons, despite a convention that the speaker, as a political neutral, is not normally challenged in his or her bid for re-election by any of the major parties.^[14]

On 6 May, on the morning the polls opened in the election, just before eight o'clock Farage was involved in a light aircraft crash, suffering injuries described as non-life-threatening. A spokesperson told the BBC that "it was unlikely Mr Farage would be discharged from hospital today [6 May]^[15] Although his injuries were originally described as minor, his sternum and ribs were broken, and his lung punctured.^[16] The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said that the aeroplane was towing a banner, which caught in the tailplane, forcing the nose down.^[17]

Farage came third with 8,401 votes. Bercow was re-elected, and in second place with 10,331 votes was John Stevens, a former Conservative MEP who campaigned as an independent accompanied by "Flipper the Dolphin" (a reference to MPs flipping second homes).^[18]

On 1 December 2010, the pilot of the aircraft involved in the accident was charged with threatening to kill Farage. He was also charged with threatening to kill an AAIB official involved in the investigation into the accident.^[19] In April 2011, Justin Adams was found guilty of making death threats. The judge said the defendant was "clearly extremely disturbed" at the time the offences happened adding "He is a man who does need help. If I can find a way of giving him help I will."^[20]

Alternative Vote referendum, May 2011[link]

Farage declared himself personally in favour of the Alternative Vote system of May 2011, saying first-past-the-post is a "nightmare" for UKIP. However, the party's stance has to be decided by its central policy making committee.^[21]

May 2012 London Mayor & Local elections[link]

In a "bizarre cock-up," UKIP forgot to put their party name on their candidate's ballot paper for the London mayoral election, 2012^[22], Laurence Webb appearing as "A fresh choice for London." Farage admitted the mistake describing it as an internal error.^[22]
Interviewed by the following Sunday by Andrew Neil and asked about "the game plan", Farage welcomed the "average 13% vote" across the country, and stated that the party was preparing for County council in 2013, European elections in 2014 and a general election in 2015.^[23] The party was no longer just a protest vote, it would have a full manifesto with policies including selective schools, help to small businesses by "getting rid of excessive labour practices" and an energy policy not based on wind turbines.^[23] UKIP was here to stay ..frankly the Tory Eurosceptics were in the wrong party and would be better off joining UKIP. Asked what would happen to UKIP if the Tories made a Manifesto commitment to a European referendum, Farage said they had already failed to honour a "cast iron" commitment for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty.^[23]

Challenging Farange's viewpoint, Neil said UKIP aspired to come top of the European elections but whilst UKIP wanted to join the big time, they were still seen as "unprofessional, amateur and even unacceptable" after their press officer called Baroness Warsi "a bitch".^[23] Farage regretted "the wrong choice of words" but further described Warsi as "the lowest grade chairman the Tory party has ever had."^[23] Neil then mocked the so called internal error which had made Farage "a joke".^[23] "The blunt truth is" UKIP "didn't win any more seats, the performance in London was terrible and they were still a one man band."^[23] Farage conceded London was a failure but they had won council seats elsewhere. He invited Tories who couldn't stand Cameron to help him.^[23]