In 2013 Morrissey said that he "nearly voted" for the UK Independence Party, expressing his admiration for party leader Nigel Farage and endorsing Farage's Euroscepticism regarding UK membership of the European Union. In October 2016, he praised the UK's referendum on EU membership as "magnificent" and said the BBC had "persistently denigrated" supporters of the Leave campaign. The following October he expressed the view that the 2017 UKIP leadership election had been rigged against anti-Islam activist Anne Marie Waters.