Posted by 
LONDON — Nigel Farage triggered a backlash Monday after he suggested Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump would have gone better if the Ukrainian president had worn a suit to the White House.
The Reform UK leader and Trump ally said the U.S. president was “incredibly old-fashioned” about people’s clothing in the Oval Office — and suggested this may have fueled Trump’s dramatic outburst, alongside his Vice-President JD Vance, over U.S. support for Ukraine Friday.
“If I turned up at the White House, I’d make sure I was wearing a suit, my shoes were cleaned,” Farage told LBC. He said the Ukrainian president had been unwise to “bowl in and show no respect to a man who we all know is incredibly old-fashioned about this stuff.”
Farage, a keen supporter of the U.S. president who attended his inauguration in January, said it was part of Trump’s personality to want people to dress appropriately.
“Lots of times Trump said ‘yeah, good shoes, great shoes,’” Farage added. “If you’re going in with a positive mindset, maybe Zelenskyy should have thought about that.”
Zelenskyy has repeatedly worn military-style clothing since Russia’s full-scale invasion since 2022, in solidarity with the Ukrainian troops fighting on the frontline, and as a way to remind people outside Ukraine that his country is under attack.
During his meeting last week, Zelenskyy wore a military-style black sweatshirt, adorned with the Ukrainian trident.
Pressed by reporter Brian Glenn, chief White House correspondent for conservative network Real America’s Voice, in the Oval Office on why he wasn’t wearing a suit, Zelenskyy said he would do so after the war concluded.
But Farage said of Zelenskyy’s military uniform: “There are times to wear it. There are times not to.”
The Reform UK leader, who has taken a more skeptical approach towards British support for Ukraine, said Zelenskyy “overplayed his hand” and was “very unwise” to tell the U.S. what would happen if they didn’t support him.
Asked if he would treat a guest the way Trump had treated Zelenskyy, he said: “I wouldn’t expect the guest to be rude to me in my own house. Absolutely not. I would expect a guest to treat me with respect.”
But he added of the two U.S. leaders: “I’m not defending what they did.”
Britain’s opposition Tories — jostling with Farage for votes on the right of British politics — leapt on the Reform UK leader’s latest comments Monday.
“Nigel Farage is completely wrong,” said Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel, who branded his language “both morally wrong and diplomatically counterproductive.”
“At this uncertain and dangerous time, one would hope that MPs of all stripes would be putting our national interest first, rather than playing politics.”
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey was also critical of Farage’s remarks, with the centrist party leader saying the Reform UK boss he was “once again showing his true colors as Trump’s own spokesman here in Britain.”
“Zelenskyy showed courage and integrity in that room — in stark contrast to Farage’s cowardly approach of licking Trump’s boots,” he added.
