Nigel Farage put Frankie Boyle down long enough to make a trip to the Tower of London today – but not, it seems, to hold back the tears.

The Ukip leader put on an emotional display as he gazed upon the landmark’s moving tribute to the fallen soldiers of WW1 – an art project called “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” which sees the Tower festooned with thousands of ceramic poppies in a moat around it.

Welling up as he gazed upon the memorial – branded by one Guardian critic as a “trite, fake, and inward-looking… Ukip-style memorial” recently – he cried as he witnessed it.

Much to the amazement of a few observers on Twitter, who were quick to point out his rather moist, but fitting (well… To how the Guardian described a Ukip-style memorial) display:

And a few comments from Farage, too, who tore himself away from trolling comedian’s timelines to post the following:

His display follows a deluge of criticism from eagle-eyed social media users last week – including Sarah Vine, David Baddiel and Grace Dent – who noted he was not wearing a red poppy to mark Remembrance Day when he appeared on ITV show The Agenda.

His reason? To wear a poppy too early is showy.

“Like many people Nigel won't wear a poppy before November 1,” a Ukip spokesperson told The Sun.

His scheduled TV appearance also saw the Ukip leader declare that there was “nothing wrong with white people blacking up” and defend the markedly racist undertones of Mike Read’s pro-Ukip anthem, “Ukip Calypso”.

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“We have really gone too far with all of this,” he said.

“There's a huge difference between people causing offence and people doing what Mike Read did and having a bit of fun.