Patrick O’Flynn was hailed for his “historic” role in Brexit by Nigel Farage on Monday as the Reform Uk leader joined in tributes at the funeral of the former Daily Express political editor. Mr Farage said his late friend had played a crucial role in the most seismic constitutional change of recent times.

Mr Farage, who joined more than 150 mourners at Mortlake Crematorium in South West London, described Patrick’s unflappable sense of calm under pressure, adding: “I never heard him raise his voice. When I met Patrick in 2000, I knew this...was someone who knew what folk outside the Westminster bubble were thinking.

“His premature passing reminds us that if we really believe in something, we owe it to ourselves to stand up for it, even if it is controversial, even if it is taking a risk, even if it puts our reputation on the line. Patrick O’Flynn did all of those things.”

Mr Farage praised Patrick's “achievement in getting Express Newspapers to come out and campaign to leave the EU and then to back Ukip in the EU elections”. Express columnist Virginia Blackburn recalled former editor Peter Hill asked Patrick if he would ever consider going into politics himself: “‘No’, came the answer. Patrick said he’d rather sit at the back of the village hall and throw vegetables.”

Mr Farage, however, revealed that he eventually persuaded his friend to stand as an MEP: “Patrick was there by my side through all of it. Even when things were very, very, tough he was a solid, steady influence.”

Patrick, 59, died of liver cancer last month. His sisters Teresa and Sarah also paid tribute at the funeral where mourners included Reform deputy leader Richard Tice and Tory former chief Sir Iain Duncan Smith. After leaving the Express, Patrick, from Cambridge, was elected as a Ukip MEP for the East of England from 2014 before he joined the Social Democratic Party in 2018.

He is survived by his widow Carole Ann, his son and daughter and by one grandchild.