Nigel Farage is widely recognized as the 'father of Brexit' in popular discourse and media. He led the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006–2009 and 2010–2016, served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2020, and co-founded the Brexit Party in 2018 (later rebranded as Reform UK). Throughout his career, Farage consistently championed Britain's withdrawal from the EU and is credited with transforming Euroscepticism from a fringe position into a mainstream political force that ultimately led to the 2016 referendum.

However, the title 'father of Brexit' is not an official designation and reflects attribution rather than historical fact. Other figures have also been recognized for foundational contributions. Jeffrey Titford, a former UKIP leader and MEP, was sometimes called a 'father of Brexit' in obituaries following his death in September 2024, particularly for providing early organizational stability to the anti-EU movement in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Sir Bill Cash, a Conservative MP with a 35-year parliamentary career opposing European integration, is occasionally termed the 'godfather of Brexit' for his role in the Maastricht Treaty rebellions of the early 1990s. Sir James Goldsmith, who founded the Referendum Party in 1994, is described as a 'godfather' or precursor for forcing EU referendum discussions into national debate decades before 2016.

The term 'Brexit' itself was coined by Peter Wilding, a lawyer and pro-European campaigner, in a 2012 blog post—making him technically the 'father' of the word, though he opposed the movement. The consensus is that while Farage is the most commonly cited figure associated with the phrase, the Brexit movement resulted from contributions by multiple Eurosceptic figures across decades.