Nigel Farage: “The idea that Brexit is causing stock market losses is rubbish.” | Getty U.K.’s Nigel Farage: Obama behaved ‘disgracefully’ by campaigning against Brexit

British Independence Party leader and longtime Brexit supporter Nigel Farage blasted President Barack Obama for weighing in on the British referendum to leave the European Union, negatively contrasting him with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Vladimir Putin behaved in a more statesmanlike manner than President Obama did in this referendum campaign. Obama came to Britain, and I think behaved disgracefully, telling us we would be at the back of the queue,” said Farage during an interview Monday on Fox News. "Vladimir Putin maintained his silence throughout the whole campaign.”


At a press conference during his visit to the U.K. in April, Obama urged Britons to support remaining in the European Union and warned that their country would move to the "back of the queue" for trade deals if they chose to leave the 28-country union. (Despite a backlash in the U.K. following those comments, the White House stood by them on Friday, noting Obama's interest in completing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the EU.)

Farage, in his Fox News interview, also lashed out against the “global establishment” for seeking to intervene in the vote.

“Ultimately, this referendum wasn't decided by economic arguments. It was decided by a basic argument of sovereignty: Should we make our own laws in our own country?” he said. “We want to govern our own country. We want to make our own laws.”

Farage also dismissed the notion that the referendum was causing the past few days of global financial-market turmoil as “rubbish,” attributing it instead to underperforming companies and overinflated projections.

“The idea that Brexit is causing stock market losses is rubbish,” he said. “Every growth expectation in Britain gets marked down [and] our public finances are still way out of control. So, this hysteria about markets, let's end that. It's rubbish.”

Markets continued their downward slide on Monday — the Dow Jones Industrial Average, for instance, dropped 260 points after falling by more than 600 points to close out last week, and several ratings agencies downgraded the U.K.'s sovereign debt.

Farage, however, said that leaving the EU would boost British trade.

“Trade is not made by politicians. Trade is not made by bureaucrats. Trade is made by people watching this program,” he said.