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Nigel Farage unveils his Mr Brexit portrait

Nigel Farage has unveiled his portrait Mr Brexit, which will be auctioned to raise money for charity.

The work created by artist Dan Llywelyn Hall was revealed at L’Escargot Restaurant in London, less than 36 hours before the UK is set to leave the European Union.

Mr Farage told the PA news agency: “I will miss the drama. I will miss being the pantomime villain who gets up and 500 people boo.

“I won’t miss Brussels because it’s a dump. But I will miss Strasbourg which has got lots of family-run restaurants and yeah, of course, I am going to miss that.

“I suppose my level of notoriety is relatively high at the moment and I am hoping we can auction this off for a magnificent charity.”

The money raised by the painting will go towards veteran support charity Care After Combat.

Earlier, he described Brexit as “the achievement of my lifetime” in the wake of the final Withdrawal Agreement vote.

Following his fiery departure speech – which saw him having his microphone cut off and being told to leave “and take your flags with you” by the deputy speaker – Mr Farage said he found it hard to believe Brexit was happening.

He said: “As I walked out, for just a second, I did feel something. And then I thought, stiffen up, the cameras might get that.

“It has been a huge chapter of my life. I gave up a career in business to go up and becoming an MEP, arguably it had a very damaging effect on family life and other things.”

He said he will now be spending more time in America: “There is a big election coming up in November. It is no great secret I am a friend of the president’s, I want to see him elected. He may be a bit rough around the edges for some people but on the big stuff, I am joined at the hip with him.”

Related: Britain begins last full day in EU after Brexit deal passed

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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