Nigel Farage waded full-on into the US election as he met Donald Trump backstage at a crunch rally before Americans went to the polls.
The Reform UK leader claimed “a Trump win will make the world a safer place” despite concerns on both sides of the Atlantic over past threats by the Republican to pull the US away from Nato.
Mr Farage also trumpeted a “special relationship” after Trump poured praise on him during his speech in Pennsylvania on Monday.
The US property tycoon highlighted their friendship, telling the Republican faithful: “You have a man from Europe - I don’t know if he’s here, I saw him backstage.
“What he is doing is sort of what we did a few years ago. He’s doing a great job. He’s always been my friend for some reason. He liked me, I liked him, and he’s shaking it up pretty good over there.
“He was the big winner of the last election in the UK, and he’s a very spectacular man, very highly respected - Nigel Farage.
“He’s a little bit of a rebel but that’s good - don’t change, Nigel.”
Farage’s intervention in the US election comes after he last month accused Labour of “direct election interference” over its staffers helping the Democrats.
His campaign filed an official complaint with US federal election officials, alleging that the Labour Party had “made, and the Harris campaign has accepted, illegal foreign national contributions”.
Cabinet ministers flatly rejected the accusations, saying it was people linked to Labour acting as individuals going out to campaign for Democrat Kamala Harris, not any action organised by the party.
At the time, Mr Farage tweeted: “This is direct election interference by the governing Labour Party, and particularly stupid if Trump wins. Who is paying for all this?”
As some 240 million Americans prepared to vote, the Reform UK leader argued that Ms Harris, if she wins, should pardon Trump to “dampen down” the threat of unrest.
Mr Farage also suggested the Republican candidate should concede defeat and “go and play golf” in Scotland rather than claim the vote was stolen if he suffers a “clear and decisive” loss on Tuesday.
Trump faces sentencing later in November after he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over the payment of hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.
Backing Trump to win, Mr Farage nevertheless said: “If she (Ms Harris) gets in on Tuesday I hope she pardons him.
“She could look magnanimous and it would dampen down potential tensions.”
Washington is braced for potential civil disorder after the storming of the US Capitol by pro-Trump insurrectionists following Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, with polls placing the Republican candidate and Ms Harris in a dead heat.
Clacton MP Mr Farage has travelled to the US to support Trump on multiple occasions, including a visit in July for which he declared £32,836 from a private donor for flights and accommodation.
In the register of MP interests, he said the purpose of the trip was “to support a friend who was almost killed and to represent Clacton on the world stage”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the new Labour government would work with Trump or Ms Harris, whoever becomes president.
