THE first Brexiteer was not Nigel Farage but King Henry VIII, according to the UK’s leading constitutional historian.

David Starkey returns to the Brindley Theatre in Runcorn on Monday 9 October following the sell out of his previous lecture The King Is Dead.

This time he will be claiming that the Reformation is the first Brexit.

Henry VIII is the only king whose shape you remember. He bestrides our history like a colossus and the decisions he took still reverberate today.

His ministers devised the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and his tumultuous personal life pitted religion against politics as brutally as in our own age of Isis.

In this lecture David Starkey draws on his unique knowledge of Henry’s reign and his insights as a leading commentator on modern politics to illuminate the Tudor age.

A Cambridge educated grammar school boy, he became a respected lecturer, a uniquely abrasive debater on Radio 4’s Moral Maze, a controversial contributor to Question Time.

He is the creator and presenter of many popular historical TV series on such subjects as Henry VIII , Elizabeth 1st, the Monarchy, the Churchills, Music and Monarchy, and Magna Carta.

Tickets priced 17.50 and £16.50 concessions are available from thebrindley.org.uk and the box office on 0151 907 8360.