Nigel Farage has claimed to be "the catalyst" for the rise of Donald Trump, also using a jubilant interview about the US presidential election to refer to Barack Obama as a "creature" and joke about Trump's alleged sexual assaults on women.
Speaking to TalkRadio from Spain, before he was due to fly to the US, Mr Farage joked several times about the idea of the president-elect sexually assaulting Theresa May when he met her.
Mr Farage, the interim Ukip leader, has become increasingly open in his backing for Mr Trump in the weeks since he spoke at at a rally for the then-Republican candidate in Mississippi.
Mr Trump himself referred to the shock vote for Brexit in the UK as an inspiration for his campaign.
Speaking to TalkRadio in a sometimes raucous late-evening call on Wednesday, Mr Farage was asked if he had “a lot to answer for” over Mr Trump’s victory.
“I’m the catalyst for the downfall of the Blairites, the Clintonites, the Bushites, and all these dreadful people who work hand in glove with Goldman Sachs and everybody else, have made themselves rich, and ruined our countries,” Mr Farage replied. “I couldn’t be happier.”
Mr Farage said: “That Obama creature - loathsome individual - he couldn’t stand our country. He said we’d be at the back of the queue, didn’t he?”
He contrasted this with what he said would be Mr Trump’s pro-UK views: “What was interesting was that Trump said we’d be at the front of the queue. However imperfect Donald Trump may be, and my goodness he is, his mother was Scottish, he owns Turnberry, he spends a lot of time in our country, he loves our country, what we stand for and our culture.”
Mr Farage then joked about Mr Trump meeting Mrs May, saying, “don’t touch her for goodness sake”, before laughing. Asked about the likely behaviour of Mr Trump, who has been accused of a series of sexual assaults, which he denies, Mr Farage added: “If it comes to it, I could be there as the responsible adult role, to make sure everything’s OK.”
Mr Farage appeared to welcome the prospect of more surprise electoral successes across Europe, where some pundits have raised the idea of a National Front victory in France's presidential vote in 2017.
“Brexit, and now Trump, and now the wagons roll on to the rest of Europe for all the elections next year,” Mr Farage said. “This is a really exciting time. As someone who has now become a demolitions expert I’m thoroughly enjoying what’s going on.”
Guardian News and Media