Thursday 25 August 2016 9:17 am

Watch Ukip leader Nigel Farage address a rapturous Trump rally

When Nigel Farage said he wanted his life back as he resigned as Ukip leader, presumably what he meant was that he would be enjoying every last minute of his remaining tenure.

The party is still trying to select his replacement, but Farage looked thoroughly at home in Mississippi last night as he addressed a rally for Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Introduced by Trump as “the man behind Brexit” – despite the fact Farage held no role with the official Brexit campaign Vote Leave – the Ukip leader told a rapturous crowd he was bringing a message of “hope and optimism”.

“If the little people, if the real people, if the ordinary decent people are prepared to stand up and fight for what they believe in, we can overcome the big banks, we can overcome the multi-nationals.

“And we did it, we made 23 June our independence day when we smashed the establishment,” Farage said.

The Ukip leader drew the parallels between the UK's unexpected vote for Brexit and Trump's campaign for the presidency.

“We reached those people who had been let down by modern global corporatism,” Farage said.

“We reached those people who have never voted in their lives but believed by going and by voting for Brexit they cold take back control of their country, take back control of their borders and get back their pride and self-respect.”

The Ukip leader said: “You have a fantastic opportunity here with this campaign. You can go out, you can beat the pollsters, you can beat the commentators, you can beat Washington. And you'll do it by doing what we did for Brexit in Britain.”

Farage held back from formally endorsing Trump, stating that he “could not possibly” tell American voters which candidate to back.

But he added: “If I was an American citizen I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me. In fact, I wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton if she paid me.”