16:45

Farage barrage

Nigel Farage, dubbed “the Godfather of Brexit” in the official CPAC programme, urged attendees of the conservative event to help Bernie Sanders win the Democratic nomination – and thus, in his view, guarantee a landslide victory for his “friend” Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.



Farage, always a popular turn at CPAC, said of the recent British general election: “One of the things that made it easier for Boris [Johnson] was a man called Jeremy Corbyn. The British Labour party had been hijacked by hard left, unpatriotic socialism.”

Nigel Farage at CPAC today. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA



US Democrats will suffer the same fate under democratic socialist Sanders, he suggested. “You should be backing Bernie Sanders. You should be campaigning for Bernie Sanders. You should be donating money to Bernie Sanders.”



Farage, who waved a small Union flag on stage, added: “I think with Bernie, you won’t just get Trump. I think with Bernie, you can retake the House too.”



The crowd at this year’s CPAC event, in Oxon Hill, Maryland, burst into chants of “USA! USA!”