Nigel Farage has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of showing “no respect” to Donald Trump and said he should have worn a suit to the White House.

The Reform UK leader was also reluctant to criticise the US president over his extraordinary Oval Office bust-up with the Ukrainian leader on Friday.

In what appeared to be a pre-prepared ambush, Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, accused Zelenskyy of not being grateful enough for the military aid America has given his country since it was invaded by Russia in 2022.

At one point, a journalist even asked the Ukrainian president - who has worn military-style clothes ever since the war began - why he was not wearing a suit.

On an LBC phone-in this morning, Farage said: “I think President Zelenskyy was very unwise to tell the Americans what would happen to them if they didn’t back him. Yeah sure, Trump and Vance bit back, but I think in diplomatic terms, Zelenskyy played it very badly.”

He added: “I wouldn’t expect a guest to be rude to me in my own house, absolutely not. I would expect a guest to treat me with respect.”

Asked by presenter Nick Ferrari if it was right for Zelenskyy to be asked why he was not in a suit, Farage said: “Do you know what, if I turned up at the White House, I’d make sure I was wearing a suit and my shoes were cleaned, absolutely.”

When Ferrari pointed out that Winston Churchill did not wear a suit when he went to the White House during the Second World War, Farage replied: “Well he wasn’t dealing with President Trump.”

He said Zelenskyy was wrong to “bowl in and show no respect to a man who we all know is incredibly old fashioned about this stuff”.

MPs from across the political spectrum quickly condemned Trump and Vance for their behaviour towards Zelenskyy, but it took Farage - a close ally of Trump - well over 12 hours to finally respond.

In a post on X, he described the row as a “spat” and was careful not to lay any blame at the US president’s door.