Nigel Farage seems to have distanced himself from Donald Trump by accusing the US president of breaking a key promise to American voters.

The Reform UK leader, seen as a close supporter and ally to Trump, predicted on Monday that the Republican Party would not get “absolutely smashed” in the midterm elections.

But Farage was wrong and Trump’s party lost control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in a dreadful night for the president.

When pressed on this false prediction, Farage admitted the results have been a “disaster”.

He then blamed it all on the Iran war, which Trump started by striking Tehran back in February. More than seven months later, fuel prices are still high and the war does not look like it is going to end any time soon.

“One thing about Trump, he always kept his promises,” Farage told reporters. “Said to the American people, I will do this. He did it.

“But in this case, he said, no more foreign wars and here we are in month eight of a war with no sign of ending. And that, and the resulting fuel prices, in the end has done the damage.”

He said he was worried the president will “continue aggressively attacking Iran” now the midterms are over.

Farage continued: “I thought we should support the Americans on day 1. I think the Iranian regime is dreadful. I think doing strikes to slow down their development of nuclear weapons was right. But I’ve never supported endless war. I was against Libya. I was against Iraq. I was sceptical about Afghanistan and so was Trump. And that’s the irony of where we are.”

The Reform leader’s words are in line with even vice president JD Vance, who blamed the Republican’s terrible performance on Iran.

Farage also claimed he had not spoken to Trump “for a bit” but he had spoken to Republicans “very worried” by this result.

However, he suggested the party could bounce back.

He said voters might be “angry with the president for what he’s done, but it doesn’t mean you won’t vote Republican in 2028.”

Farage continued: “So we can’t read too much into this long term. Trump has had an amazing career. He has beaten the pollsters. He has gone way beyond expectations. This was his last big election, and they all say that all political careers end in failure.”

The US Constitution forbids any presidents from running for a third term in office.

The Clacton MP also admitted that he had incorrectly believed Elon Musk’s huge donations to the Republican campaign “would stem the flow of losses”, but “I was wrong and it was a complete wipeout”.

It comes as Reform UK have fallen to third place in the opinion polls, after months of leading in first place, even after receiving a whopping £72 million in donations from crypto-billionaires.

But Farage rejected any suggestion that his party had declined in popularity.

He said: “If you examine the polls correctly, there is no slide at all.”

Speaking to Sky News’ Jon Craig, he added: “If you believe that, Jon, you need to get out more. There is all sorts of trickery and jiggery-pokery going on. The polls are underplaying us by reweighting undecided. I won’t get too technical about it, but if you believe we’re 3rd, you’re living on the wrong planet.”

He added: “Money on its own doesn’t do it. Messages, the people you present, all of those things matter.”

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