The Conservatives have compared Nigel Farage to Jeremy Corbyn after the Reform UK leader said Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been “rude” to Donald Trump, as well as criticising the Ukrainian president for not wearing a suit to the Oval Office.
The Liberal Democrats accused Farage of parroting White House talking points after Farage denied that Elon Musk and Steve Bannon had given Nazi salutes, saying their gestures were “out to the side and not in front”.
Speaking during a phone-in on LBC radio, Farage took issue with the sympathy showed to Zelenskyy after he was barracked by Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, on Friday, with his Washington visit cut short.
“I think president Zelenskyy was very unwise to tell the Americans what would happen to them if they didn’t back him,” Farage said. “I think it was unwise. Sure, Vance and Trump bit back. But I think in diplomatic terms Zelenskyy played it very badly.”
Asked if Trump and Vance had been right to treat Zelenskyy as they did, Farage replied: “I wouldn’t expect a guest to be rude to me in my own house, absolutely not. I would expect a guest to treat me with respect. Doesn’t mean for a minute that Vance and Trump – I’m not defending what they did.”
Zelenskyy wore a black fatigue-style outfit in Washington, reflecting his role as leader of a nation at war after it was invaded by Russia. Farage said he sympathised with criticisms of this, with the US journalist Brian Glenn asking the Ukrainian president why he had not been in a suit. The outfit showed a lack of respect, Farage said.
“You know what? If I turned up at the White House, I’d make sure I was wearing a suit and that my shoes were clean, absolutely,” Farage said.
“Our prime minister was briefed and briefed and briefed as to how to deal with the visit to the White House. If Zelenskyy wants to bowl in and show no respect to a man who we all know is incredibly old fashioned about this stuff … if you are going in with a positive mindset, maybe Zelenskyy should have thought about that.”
Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, compared Farage to Corbyn, saying that, like the former Labour leader, he had a “history [of] equivocating over Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine”.
A spokesperson for Corbyn said Patel’s words about him were misleading and that he had consistently opposed the Russian invasion.
Patel said: “Nigel Farage is completely wrong. President Zelenskyy is a hero, who has stood up to Putin’s aggression, and led his country’s defence against their barbaric and illegal invasion over the last three years – and it is troubling to not hear the leader of Reform say that.
“For Nigel Farage to sit there pointing the finger at Zelenskyy is both morally wrong and diplomatically counterproductive. At this uncertain and dangerous time, one would hope that MPs of all stripes would be putting our national interest first, rather than playing politics.”
David Taylor, the Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, said: “It’s telling that when the PM announced the essential uplift in defence spending, not a single member of Reform was there to ask a question.
“Farage is not fit to comment on Zelenskyy’s actions. The former appears constantly absent while the latter has fought not just for Ukraine’s future, but for ours here in the UK.”
After one caller asked Farage if he regretted speaking at last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland given that another speaker, the former Trump aide Steve Bannon, made a fascist-style salute from the podium, Farage said he did not.
Bannon was, Farage argued, “taking the mickey” out of Elon Musk, a current Trump aide, who made two similar salutes at Trump’s inauguration in January.
“Are they Nazi salutes? I don’t think they are for a moment,” Farage said. Asked what they were, Farage called them “very unwise”. He added: “They’re not really Nazi salutes, because they’re out to the side and not in front … Do I think Musk’s a Nazi? No.”
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said: “Nigel Farage is once again showing his true colours as Trump’s own spokesman here in Britain. Zelenskyy showed courage and integrity in that room – in stark contrast to Farage’s cowardly approach of licking Trump’s boots.”
