Nigel Farage has described Donald Trump's "go back" comments aimed at four congresswomen of colour as "genius".
The US president’s remarks were widely condemned as racist after he told the four Democrats known as the Squad to return to the “broken and crime infested places from which they came”.
But the Brexit Party leader praised Mr Trump’s words as being politically shrewd, despite saying they made him feel uncomfortable.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Farage compared watching his ally’s “pretty brisk style” to being a child watching daleks on Doctor Who.
Mr Farage added: “I thought, ‘Dear, oh dear, oh dear’. You realise, 48 hours on, it was genius because what’s happened is the Democrats gather round the Squad, which allows him to say, ‘Oh look, the Squad are the centre of the Democratic Party’.
“He’s remarkably good at what he does.
“He does things his way. But he is a remarkably effective operator.”
Mr Trump was targeting congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib with the remarks.
They are all US citizens and only Ms Omar, from Somalia, was born outside the nation.
The president criticised the women “who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world”.
He suggested “why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned the remarks as “racist” and challenged Boris Johnson to do so too during the Tory leadership contest.
Mr Johnson refused to, but did criticise the remarks as “totally unacceptable”. – PA