Claim 7e88b280Checked 09 Jul 2026
TrueOn the truth scale
“I was fiercely ambitious when I was 18.”
Reasoning & Evidence09 Jul 2026
Public reporting supports Farage’s statement. A 2013 Guardian profile says his youthful ambition was to be rich and notes that he went straight into the City at 18, and a 2022 Guardian review of Michael Crick’s biography says he entered the London Metal Exchange trade with "the fierce ambition to make a lot of money." That makes his claim that he was fiercely ambitious at 18 well-supported. (theguardian.com) Sources: The Guardian, "Nigel Farage: 'I'd rather have a party of eccentrics than bland, ghastly people'" (`https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jan/07/nigel-farage-party-eccentrics-ukip`); The Guardian, "One Party After Another: The Disruptive Life of Nigel Farage review – the man who broke Britain" (`https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/06/one-party-after-another-the-disruptive-life-of-nigel-farage-review-the-man-who-broke-britain`).
From article
You write that when you left school ‘I had worlds to conquer’ and it struck me: He’s not one of those men who want to save the world, he wants to conquer it.
I was fiercely ambitious when I was 18. Fiercely ambitious. And that ambition was to succeed in business and make a lot of money – that was how I thought and how I felt. But I’ve changed, haven’t I, because I’m not pursuing that course any more. In many ways I’ve turned my back on a life of money completely – I mean, much of the last 10 years has been grinding poverty. People laugh at that, but actually if you’re trying to bring up a big family earning half what a GP earns…
Sources opened+ 98 search hits considered
| [1] | theguardian.com |
| [2] | theguardian.com |