Nigel Farage’s support for Donald Trump over the Ukraine crisis has slammed the brakes on the ‘detoxification’ of the Reform leader which has been under way since the election.
Before the row between Mr Trump and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, polling data ranked Mr Farage as the most popular party leader.
After those surveyed were asked if they liked or disliked each leader, Mr Farage achieved an average score of -30 in the YouGov poll, compared with -40 for Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer and -36 for the Tories’ Kemi Badenoch.
But following Mr Farage’s remarks about the White House row between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, in which he blamed the Ukrainian for playing the meeting ‘very badly’ and ‘bowling in and showing no respect’ for the US President, the Reform chief is now the least popular leader, with -39.
Sir Keir is up to -28 after his support for Mr Zelensky, while Ms Badenoch is on -30.
Until his criticism, Mr Farage had been moving quickly from the margins to the mainstream, increasingly seen as the leader of a respectable organisation rather than a ‘protest vote party’.
Pollsters say the perception that Mr Farage is too close to Mr Trump and too sympathetic to president Putin is Reform’s ‘weak flank’ which can be attacked by Labour and the Tories.
His feud with Reform MP Rupert Lowe is likely to halt his advance in the polls even further.
Mr Farage, a vocal cheerleader for the US President, accused Zelensky of ‘overplaying his hand’ and sparking the astonishing televised spat with Mr Trump and Vice-President JD Vance
Mr Trump sparked global outrage during the Oval Office meeting by accusing Mr Zelensky of ‘gambling with World War Three’ and saying that he had not expressed enough thanks for US aid in defending his country against Putin ‘s invasion
When Mr Farage was asked in 2014 which world leader he most admired, he said: ‘As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin. The way he played the whole Syria thing. Brilliant. Not that I approve of him politically.’
Mr Trump sparked global outrage during the Oval Office meeting by accusing Mr Zelensky of ‘gambling with World War Three’ and saying that he had not expressed enough thanks for US aid in defending his country against Putin’s invasion.
Mr Farage, a vocal cheerleader for the US President, accused Zelensky of ‘overplaying his hand’ and sparking the astonishing televised spat with Mr Trump and Vice-President JD Vance during an interview with LBC last week.
He said Ukraine was a ‘corrupt country’ and had to accept it was not getting territory such as the Crimea back.
He added: ‘If I turned up at the White House I would make sure I was wearing a suit and my shoes were clean.’
After it was pointed out that the Ukrainian president was following in the footsteps of leaders such as Sir Winston Churchill in visiting in battle fatigues, he added: ‘If Zelensky wants to bowl in and show no respect to a man who we all know is incredible old fashioned about this stuff… if you are going in with a positive mindset maybe Zelensky should have thought about that.’
‘Zelensky was very unwise to tell the Americans what would happen to them if they didn’t back him,’ he added.
‘It was unwise, yes sure Vance and Trump bit back, but I think in diplomatic terms Zelensky played it very badly.
‘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.’
