Now Nigel Farage claims the British civil service is 'the enemy within'

Nigel Farage has made a rare appearance in the European Parliament to attack his own country’s civil service, accusing it of being “the enemy within”.

The Ukip MEP for South East England turned up for work to denounce the UK negotiating team under Olly Robbins as attempting to sabotage Brexit and said Britain was heading for humiliation unless the Conservative Party got rid of Theresa May.

Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Farage thanked Donald Tusk for “confirming that it was Theresa May that asked for a one-year extension to the transition period”.

Simply dismissing the threat of a hard border in Ireland as a “red herring” which would never come to pass, Farage told MEPs: “The problem is that there is a rogue element in these negotiations, a group of people who don’t wish to see a solution, who put up a brick wall to stop us breaking free.

“It is not your chief negotiator Michel Barnier, it is actually the British civil service, Olly Robbins’ team.

“They signed up years ago to the European dream. They have been happy to take their orders from Brussels, they are now out to sabotage Brexit. They are indeed the enemy within.

“Unless the Conservative Party comes to its senses and gets rid of a leader who clearly is being led by the nose, we will head to the December summit, we will head to a humiliating sell-out and we will head to the UK being trapped in EU rules for many, many years to come.”

Labour MP David Lammy, a champion of the anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain said Farage “calls himself a patriot, but he hates everything that makes this country great”.

He said: “He attacks our civil service, our judges, our diversity and our openness. He has previously threatened to ‘pick up a rifle’ if he does not get his own way on Brexit.

“The civil service works hard to deliver the tasks it is set by politicians, but it cannot make the impossible possible. Every form of Brexit will cause huge damage to the UK.

“There is no way round this. The only way out of this mess is a People’s Vote which offers the opportunity to remain in the EU.”

In a tweet, Donald Tusk said: “In response to Nigel Farage in EP: I don’t know what the result of the #brexit talks is going to be. But I know that it is the Brexiteers who are 100% responsible for bringing back the problem of the Irish border.”