Piers Morgan commends Nigel Farage's 'defiant EU Parliament performance' on Good Morning Britain

He openly supported the Remain campaign during the EU Referendum debate, but Piers Morgan couldn't help but commend Ukip leader Nigel Farage's speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday's (29 June) Good Morning Britain.

Morgan addressed the Leave campaigner's terse exchanges with fellow MEPs on Tuesday (28 June) in Brussels following his hostile reception and provocative speech that claimed the Brexit vote revealed the EU was in denial. On glorifying Leave's triumphant result, Farage told MEPs: "you're not laughing now" before accusing them of never doing "a proper job in your lives".

After watching the clip again, the TV presenter regarded it as a milestone moment for the MP. Morgan said: "He's basically gone in there, and he took them all on – they're all booing and jeering him – and then said 'none of you had a proper job, none of you have done a trade deal, none of you have hired anybody,' and actually, he had his moment.

"Putting politics aside, whatever you believe, this was a big moment for him and it's one that he should savour," before adding: "Whatever you think of Nigel Farage, I rather enjoyed his defiant EU Parliament performance. They need a bit of that."

Morgan gave the same message Twitter before the broadcast – word for word.

Unsurprisingly, the journalist received backlash for his controversial comment on the social media sharing site. One user went as far as to compare Farage to Hitler, writing: "did you admire Adolf Hitler as well for his defiance performance against the Jews?" while another praised the bold MP, replying with: "the media tarnish farage in a terrible way. He's probably the best/smartest politician we have."

Other Twitter users were more concerned with how Farage's treatment of the European Union could damage Britain's economy, asking: "is it smart to ridicule the very people you now need to negotiate a trade agreement with?"

Farage was booed and laughed at during the showdown in parliament yesterday, perhaps enticing him to goad MEPs with the incendiary speech. He said: "Virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives or worked in business or worked in trade or indeed ever created a job," adding: "I will make one prediction this morning; the United Kingdom will not be the last member state to leave the European Union."

See more of the Twitter reaction below.