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Monty Python star Eric Idle has said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage being “taken seriously” is “appalling to me” after post-Brexit issues meant he was unable to see his Spamalot musical opening in Paris last year.

The 82-year-old comedian told the PA news agency he had now applied for a talent visa in France, where he has a home, in the hope it will help him avoid a similar issue happening again.

Claiming Brexit rules limited his options, he told PA: “Eight years ago, we could go and live in any country in Europe we wanted to and work, and I wasn’t even allowed to vote (in the EU referendum) because I lived here (in the US).

“I mean, (Brexit) was just a terrible con, it was a real con, and (the fact) that Nigel Farago (Farage) still exists anywhere and is taken seriously is appalling to me."