We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again.

The Brussels boss raised eyebrows with a series of eye-catching initiatives and an openly federalist agenda, jettisoning much of the caution seen in previous years.

Mr Juncker spoke at length about trade, the eurozone, migration, defence and foreign policy and the single market, on each occasion advocating more Europe as the answer.

The speech was described as a “step-by-step move towards a European superstate” by one Tory MEP and Mr Juncker’s snipe, in which he said that he believes Britain will regret Brexit soon, certainly caught the attention of the fervent Brexiteer.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who has recently been tipped as a favourite to replace Mrs May, hit out at the Brussels boss for failing to grasp the reasons behind Britain’s decision to leave.