Nigel Farage has described Donald Trump’s “go back” comments aimed at four congresswomen of colour as “genius”.

The US president’s racist remarks were widely condemned after he told the four Democrats known as the Squad to return to the “broken and crime infested places from which they came”.

But the leader of Britain’s Brexit party praised Trump’s words as being politically shrewd, despite saying they made him feel uncomfortable.

In an interview with the Times, Farage compared watching his ally’s “pretty brisk style” to being a child watching daleks on Doctor Who.

Farage, who has close links with the Trump administration, added: “I thought, ‘Dear, oh dear, oh dear’. You realise, 48 hours on, it was genius because what’s happened is the Democrats gather round the Squad, which allows him to say, ‘Oh look, the Squad are the centre of the Democratic party’.

“He’s remarkably good at what he does. He does things his way. But he is a remarkably effective operator.”

Trump was targeting congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib with the remarks. They are all US citizens and only Omar, from Somalia, was born outside the nation.

The president criticised the women “who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world”.

He suggested “why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”.

Democrats in the House of Representatives attempted to impeach Trump for his remarks, which they said brought disgrace on the presidency. The resolution was defeated.

In the UK, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned the remarks as “racist” and challenged Boris Johnson to do so too during the Tory leadership contest. Johnson refused to, but did criticise the remarks as “totally unacceptable”.