Nigel Farage – who has announced his (presumably temporary) retirement from politics – is without question the most important, influential and courageous British politician since Margaret Thatcher.

And just like Margaret Thatcher his reward for this has been consistently to be reviled by the Wankerati as the most evil figure in European politics since probably the days of Adolf Hitler.

I call them the Wankerati because that is what they are: the smug, impeccably right-on, hive-minded cabal of left-leaning comedians, luvvies, columnists, greasy-pole-climbers and overpromoted elite grandees who claim to set the tone for politics in Britain. (And indeed across the world, for the UK Wankerati, of course, have very powerful associate branches from Hollywood to DC, from Sydney to Toronto, and beyond).

Here is one of them – the angelic choral singer Charlotte Church:

I want my fucking European Union back you piece of shit!!!!!! https://t.co/XKE65GkvqT — Charlotte Church (@charlottechurch) July 4, 2016

There are many, many politicians one could very easily name who have done far, far more harm to their country and its people than Nigel Farage. Tony Blair, for one. David Cameron for another. But none of them is ever spoken of in quite such aggressively dismissive, hate-ridden terms as Nigel Farage.

And the reason for this is very simple. It’s not because – as his critics would have you believe – that he is racist or xenophobic or fascistic or even dislikable. Rather, it’s because as Rod Liddle argues here, he has been so successful.

Nigel Farage is the most important British politician of the last decade and the most successful. His resignation leaves a hole in our political system. With enormous intelligence and chutzpah and a refreshingly unorthodox approach, he built Ukip up from nothing to become established as our third largest party and succeeded in his overriding ambition – to see the UK vote to leave the European Union. He is also extremely good company and likeable – unless you are one of those infants who screams ‘fascist!’ whenever his name is raised. Or if you are BBC PM’s presenter Eddie Mair, who – fatuously enough – seemed to suggest Farage was to blame for racist assaults taking place in the country.

Liddle, himself a life-long socialist and Labour-voter, is one of very few commentators, on the left or the right, who you’ll find admitting such things in public.

That’s because, just like “Thatcher”, the very word “Farage” has entered our modern lexicon as the very examplar of unvarnished hatefulness. No need to explain yourself; no need to demonstrate your case. Simply utter the word “Farage” in a sneering tone and that’s it: not only have you won whatever argument you are trying to win but, even more importantly, you have shown the world you are on the side of the angels.

Nigel Farage is a virtue-signaller’s wet dream on steroids with icing and hundreds-and-thousands and cherries on top.

If you conspicuously loathe Farage, it means, that you hate: racism; bad fashion; uncool music; people who abuse animals; injustice; sexism; genocide; homophobia; greed; selfishness; cancer; cheating at Monopoly, or any other game come to think of it; Hitler; puppy-killers; Jimmy Savile; Pol Pot; Voldemort; people who use swimming pool changing rooms without covering up their veruccas.

If you hate Farage, it also means, as night follows day, that you love: kittens with blue and pink ribbons round their necks; nature; world peace.

Meanwhile in the real world, Farage has noisily got on with things – doing more to advance the interests of his country and its people than any of the greasers, time-servers, trimmers, liars, cheats and compromisers who seek to denigrate him.

I know I’m probably preaching to the choir here. But Nigel Farage – whom I’m proud to call a friend – is a total bloody hero and deserves a statue in Parliament Square.

He is living proof of Churchill’s dictum:

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”