Trump congratulates UK's Farage, ignores Starmer

Former US president Donald Trump celebrated the election of fellow populist Nigel Farage to Britain's parliament on Friday, neglecting to mention the new prime minister, Keir Starmer.

Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party won the third largest vote haul, but under Britain's electoral system it took just five seats while Starmer's Labour party swept into office with a landslide.

"Congratulations to Nigel Farage on his big WIN of a Parliament Seat Amid Reform UK Election Success. Nigel is a man who truly loves his Country!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Farage is a long-standing ally of Trump, who has dubbed the divorced father-of-four "Mr Brexit" and previously said the British populist would have done a "great job" as the UK's ambassador to Washington.

Farage is a champion of Brexit who was elected to parliament on his eighth attempt and has made no secret of his desire to take over the now-main opposition Conservative party, which was trounced at the polls by Labour.

"There is a massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it," he said after a comfortable win in Clacton, eastern England.

The result bucks a rightward trend among Britain's closest allies, with the far-right National Rally in France eyeing power and Trump looking set for a return in the United States.

Farage's win will likely embolden the attention-grabbing populist figurehead in his long-term aim of staging a "takeover" of the Conservatives.

Millions of their voters appeared to have already switched their support to Reform, handing the Tories one of their worst-ever results.

An initial exit poll caused a stir Thursday night after predicting Reform would secure 13 seats -- far exceeding forecasts in the latter stages of the campaign that it would win just a handful.

gw/dw