The former leader of the United Kingdom Independence party (Ukip) spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday near Washington DC

Nigel Farage addressed the biggest conservative conference in America on Friday, claiming that Brexit and the election victory of Donald Trump were “the beginning of a great global revolution” that would continue on throughout the west.

“We’ve got some very exciting elections coming up in the Netherlands, in France, in Germany,” the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence party (Ukip) and one of the leading figures in the campaign to win Britain’s referendum on leaving the EU told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

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Far right leaders Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine le Pen in France are mounting strong challenges to established parties in both countries this year, and the Alternative für Deutschland party is attempting to do the same in Germany.

“What I do know is if the challengers don’t get over the line this year, what they will do is shift the center of gravity of the entire debate,” Farage added.

The former Ukip leader, who was a cheerleader for Trump during the election campaign and amongst the first to visit him after his win, said 2016 would be remembered for “the beginning of a global political revolution and it’s one that is not going to stop, it’s one that is going to roll out across the rest of the free world”.

He closed his speech by declaring: “We’re winning!” to cheers from the conservative crowd.

He also defined the UK’s true allies as being those that spoke the same language, saying: “Our real friends in the world speak English, have common law and stand by us in times of crisis.” Later he insisted: “We’re not against anybody based on religion or ethnicity,” although he has a record of inflammatory claims about Muslims.

He said he was proud of having supported Trump in the election, although when visiting the US during the campaign he had been careful not to be so explicit. “I am pleased and proud that I did that,” he said of his appearance at a Trump rally in Mississippi last year.

Trump was something quite remarkable, he said: “An elected leader trying to put in place the platform on which he was elected.”

Farage has ingratiated himself with Trump and met him after his election victory before Theresa May, the prime minister. The breach of protocol was compounded when Trump suggested the UK make Farage ambassador to the US. As Sir Christopher Meyer, a former holder of that post, pointed out: “UK ambassador in DC exists to defend UK interests in US, not US interests in UK.”

Speaking to the Guardian the day before his speech, Farage backed Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon over controversial issues such as the travel ban, attacks on the media and the president’s attitude to Russia.

“The truth of it is that too much of the establishment broadcast media in particular has effectively become wedded to this form of global social democracy that we’ve lived through for the last 20 years and I think there are genuinely questions about impartiality with a series of major broadcasters right across the west,” he said.

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“Trump does it in his own remarkable way but you know, public trust in these organisations has collapsed.”

Farage said he had known Bannon for “many years” but, when asked whether they had talked here, he replied cryptically: “I can’t remember.”

Asked about Trump’s travel ban, which led to chaos and protests at airports, Farage replied: “I just don’t get the hypocrisy of all you people. Sixteen countries ban Jews [actually Israelis] going into them, you don’t say a dicky bird. This man says for 90 days he’s going to put a temporary suspension on while he looks at the vetting rules – and by the way, America’s vetting rules are quite strict already, interestingly – working out whether it’s right or not, and it’s being portrayed amongst elements in the media and by many in western politics as if it’s some sort of road to fascism or something awful.

“I just frankly think it’s the most massively over the top reaction. Now obviously he’s got caught up in legal complexity; he’s going to come back and have another try.”

Farage also dismissed persistent allegations about the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia. “It’s been interfering in every election the world for the last hundred years, as indeed America has, so this is what goes on. It doesn’t mean it’s right or good; it’s the reality. Countries spy on each other, companies spy on each other. That’s the way it works.”