Nigel Farage has been accused of being a “plastic patriot” by a cabinet minister for criticising the UK when abroad.

He hit out as the government’s plans to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius – which is opposed by Farage and the Conservatives – stalled after Donald Trump withdrew his backing.

Speaking at a ‘Save Chagos Boat Party’ event last month, Farage said: “We think this is the central plan for this government’s foreign policy and we are beating them back.

President Trump has almost understood the deal, but I will be dining at Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night and we will reinforce the message.”

On Sky News on Sunday, Streeting said: “We’ve seen two things. We’ve seen extraordinary hypocrisy on the part of the Conservatives, who were also negotiating the Chagos deal. They understood when they were in government the importance of this and swiftly changed their tune on the other side.

“As for Mr Farage, the extent to which that man, that plastic patriot, is prepared to fly to Washington on a regular basis to slag off his own country to American audiences is utterly shameful, and why we should take his claims to be a patriot with a pinch of salt.”

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