The United Kingdom's former No. 2 has joined Facebook as the social media giant's head of global policy and communications, numerous news outlets have reported.

Nick Clegg, the head of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015, will relocate to Silicon Valley with his wife and three sons in January, according to a report in The Guardian. Beginning Oct. 22, he will work from Facebook's London office until his move stateside.

Clegg succeeds Elliot Schrage and Rachel Whetstone, Facebook's policy and communications heads, respectively, who left the company last summer.

Rumors had been circulating for weeks that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was interested in appointing a top former British politician, according to The Guardian, which noted that Clegg will help navigate the thorny political issue of threatened government regulation.

Zuckerberg had courted Clegg for months and sealed the deal, The Guardian reported, by promising him a prominent role in company strategy. Clegg will report to Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, who was involved in the recruitment efforts, news reports state.

Clegg, an outspoken lobbyist against Brexit, said he will give up his role in the public debate, noting in a piece in The Guardian that “the Brexit drama will soon move to—and possibly culminate in—the place where it arguably belonged all along, in parliament.”

Clegg's move to Facebook comes at a difficult time for the company. Last month, it announced a data breach that affects more than 50 million users. The incident that came on the heels of gender bias claims and content moderators alleging they were traumatized by graphic images on the social media platform.