Nigel Farage does not hold back praising Brexit negotiator for "getting the upper hand"

18 February 2020, 20:38 | Updated: 18 February 2020, 20:53

Nigel Farage passionately waved his hands in the air as he praised UK chief Brexit negotiator David Frost for "getting the upper hand".

Farage said: "Let me be nice about Boris [Johnson's] government.

"Last night, there was a remarkable speech in Brussels by David Frost. The UK Chief Brexit negotiator.

"Now, I have to be cautious here. Because I sat in this chair back in early 2017 when Theresa May gave her Lancaster House speech, and I listened to words and phrases that I've been uttering for 20 years, and being condemned and called all sorts of nasty things.

"And she was saying them, and I thought, wow, this is it, it's going to happen 'Yipee'.

He added: "And of course, it all went horribly, desperately, very badly wrong. Luckily, I did smell a rat in time and did something about it.

"So I have to say this with some degree of caution having been very badly burnt before. But there is a difference here. This speech wasn't given, designed for UK domestic political audience.

"This speech was given by David Frost in Brussels. And he made it absolutely clear that we seek an EU-Canada style trade deal, one that abolishes most tariffs, makes inroads into services."

Waving his arms so more in the air, he added: "And yet sure there'll be some degree of trade friction, but made it clear. We will not have regulatory alignment because that was the whole point of the Brexit vote.

"The whole point was, we should be able to make our own rules. He said he wants us to be treated as sovereign equals.

"He said we become - and this is the bit I couldn't believe I was so pleased [about] - an independent country!

"I mean, wow, this is proper stuff. And he said that actually, that if we finished up, aligned, that consent for the democratic process in the United Kingdom would snap finally, and dramatically and that I think, is an acknowledgement."

He concluded his speech of praise by saying: "We potentially now got the upper hand in these negotiations and David Frost you keep playing your cards, this way and they're going to come running to you."