Nigel Farage and Herman van Rompuy

The British eurosceptic MEP, Nigel Farage, was accused of using personal insults to win publicity after he called the EU’s new president a “damp rag” and dismissed his native Belgium as a non-country.

Nigel Farage made a hurl of insults at Herman van Rompuy‘s maiden parliamentary speech in the chamber as soon as the new EU leader sat down,

The question I want to ask is: who are you? I’d never heard of you, nobody in Europe had ever heard of you.

We were told that when we had a president we’d see a giant global figure – the man would be the political leader for 500 million people – well I’m afraid what we got was you.

And I’m sorry, but after that performance earlier that you gave… and I don’t want to be rude, but you know really… you have the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk. Sir, you have no legitimacy in this job at all, and I can say with confidence that I can speak on behalf of the majority of the British people in saying, we don’t know you, we don’t want you, and the sooner you are put out-to-grass the better.

Nigel Farage

Rude, but not unparliamentary; Nigel Farage’s position was  later defended by a UKIP spokesman,

It was not unparliamentary language. It was rude, but it was not unparliamentary. UKIP is there in the European Parliament to try and make some waves.

Afterwards, appearing to be slightly disgruntled, Van Rompuy reacted in his own typically low-key way by saying he held the remarks in contempt, but that he would not comment further.

Nigel Farage was later was called to the office of the President of the European Parliament, and told to publicly apologise to Mr Van Rompuy and Belgium “or else”, to which he replied

The only people I am going to apologise to are bank clerks the world over. If I have offended them I am very sorry indeed.

The UKIP’s European leader was fined EUR3,000, the equivalent of  ten days of his MEP allowances, for the comments.