His astonishing speech at a special meeting of the European Parliament today ended with boos echoing through the Brussels chamber.

Mr Farage used his speech to declare that Brexit was "a beacon of hope" to other member states but he also infuriated MEPs when he said: "Now, I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives or worked in business or worked in trade or indeed ever created a job. But listen, just listen."

When MEPs turned their backs to him and Martin Schulz, the president of the parliament, intervened, Mr Farage responded: "You're quite right, Mr Schulz. Ukip used to protest against the establishment. Now the establishment protests against Ukip. So something has happened here."