He later called a Dutch journalist “fake news” and said “China” in Trump’s patented curt style.
Trump famously referred to Brussels as being “like a hellhole” when he was first running to be U.S. president.
Farage’s keynote speech at the National Conservative Conference in Brussels took place in a febrile atmosphere after the city’s police ordered the event to be shut down. Other scheduled speakers included Suella Braverman, the former British home secretary, and Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán who is slated to speak Wednesday.
As Farage spoke, police gathered at the entrance of the venue. He paid tribute to the “brave Tunisian” owner of the Claridge event space for standing up to “bullyboys” who wanted the event shut down.
The British politician — rumored to be weighing a comeback to front-line national politics — said Trump got China right and praised his Middle East policy on Iran and on forging the Abraham Accords, a series of diplomatic deals between Israel and some Arab nations. He accused EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell of appeasing Iran.
Speaking without notes, Farage played the hits, railing against the EU, calling on its remaining member countries to quit because it is now unreformable and “anti-democratic,” while hitting out at the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights as having been politicized.
He also reflected on his own image in Brussels, quipping that former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt — with whom he regularly clashed as an MEP in the European Parliament — wouldn’t welcome him back with open arms.
“You’ve got to be a bit odd to stand up in the European Parliament and be booed every week by 500 people,” Farage said. “Maybe I’m a bit odd.”