 "Trump 'incredibly old fashioned', ‘rude’ Zelenskyy should have worn suit to stop Oval Office clash: Nigel Farage")
The Reform UK leader and Trump ally Nigel Farage on Monday said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with US President Donald Trump would have gone better if the Ukrainian president had worn a suit to the White House, triggering a backlash.
According to a Politico report, Farage said the US 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 US 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,” Politico report quoted Farage as saying to 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 strong supporter of the US President who attended his inauguration in January, said that wanting people to dress appropriately is part of Trump’s personality.
“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.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSince Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Zelenskyy has consistently worn military-style clothing to show solidarity with Ukrainian troops on the frontline and to remind the world that his country is under attack.
During a meeting last week, he donned a military-style black sweatshirt featuring the Ukrainian trident.
When pressed by Brian Glenn, chief White House correspondent for the conservative network Real America’s Voice, about why he wasn’t wearing a suit in the Oval Office, Zelenskyy responded that he would dress formally after the war is over.
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 adopted a more skeptical stance on British support for Ukraine, criticised Zelenskyy for having “overplayed his hand” and being “very unwise” in telling the US what would happen without their support.
When asked if he would treat a guest the way Trump treated Zelenskyy, he replied, “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.”
However, he clarified his stance on the two US leaders, “I’m not defending what they did.”
Britain’s opposition Tories, vying with Farage for votes on the right, quickly seized on his comments.
“Nigel Farage is completely wrong," Politico quoted Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel as saying, labeling 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,” she added.
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey also condemned Farage’s remarks, asserting that the Reform UK leader 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,” Politico quoted Davey as saying.
With inputs from agencies
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