Longtime Brexit hawk Nigel Farage shocked spectators Tuesday by declaring that the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union “has failed” —though he stopped short of saying the UK would have been better off staying. In remarks on BBC’s Newsnight, the right-wing politician, who has long maligned the EU and railed against immigration, said that the UK had failed to reap Brexit’s economic benefits because of mismanagement by Tory politicians. “What Brexit has proved, I’m afraid, is that our politicians are about as useless as the commissioners in Brussels were,” Farage said, according to Sky News. The comments prompted a response from the Prime Minister’s Office, which refuted Farage’s arguments, contending that Brexit has benefited the UK by allowing it to exercise greater control over its own policies.