José Manuel Barroso launched into a sensational attack against David Cameron today, declaring Ukip will trounce the Tories in next year's European elections to become the "first force" in British politics.
The European Commission President accused the Prime Minister of manipulating his personal views for political gain, implying that while Cameron's Euroscepticism is an act, Ukip's is genuine - granting them favour with voters.
He argued the Tories were moving out of the European mainstream, to become more like Ukip in an effort to placate voters.
Nigel Farage could be in with a chance of winning the election, Barroso argued
“I’m not saying that happily, because I think increasingly your party and your group is looking like Ukip and the eurosceptic, anti-European group,” Barroso said.
But he added that he did not think the Tories' tactics would work in the polling booths, and that voters would choose to support Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
"I have some doubts whether you are going to be elected in Britain or if it is not Ukip that will be the first force in British elections," he told MEPs today.
"Because when it comes to be against Europe people prefer the original to the copy. That is probably why they are going to vote for Mr Farage," he argued.
Shockingly, he declared that critics of the European Union could instigate a new world war.
Speaking in his State of the Union speech to the European Parliament, Barroso called for a united Europe, sparking outrage by arguing Euroscepticism could lead to the same divisions that sparked the First World War.
He said: "Let me say to those - including some in this House - who rejoice in Europe's difficulties and who want to roll back our integration and go back to isolation: the pre-integrated Europe of the divisions, the war, the trenches, is not what people desire and deserve.
"It is our duty to preserve and deepen it."
Farage responded furiously to the claims, arguing that being anti-European was not comparable to World War One.
"Those of us who believe in national democracy do not want to take us back to the Western Front or 1914," he said in a statement.
Speaking after the debate, the Ukip leader added Barroso's comments were "utter arrogance."
"This man, who has overseen rioting in Greece, who has impoverished hundreds of thousand across the European Union by putting erroneous ideology ahead of common sense and democracy, somehow believes that his self-interested megalomaniac supra-national undemocratic organisation is the bringer of peace in Europe," he said.
"Are they that blind as to fail to understand why the problems of Europe were caused in the past?"
"Far from the peacekeepers, they will be proven the warmongers of this century by denying the people of Europe a voice and an identity.”