Nigel Farage was branded a “Putin-loving free speech imposter and Trump sycophant” by a US congressman during a congressional hearing on censorship in Washington DC.
The leader of Reform UK, a right-wing populist party founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party which has since rebranded and is known for its controversial anti-immigration and eurosceptic policies, appeared as a witness before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday (3 September).
During the hearing, Farage claimed the UK has “sunk into” a “really awful authoritarian situation” and had become “North Korea”. To back this up, he cited concerns over the Online Safety Act, recent arrest of gender-critical pundit Graham Linehan and jailing of Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor who was handed a prison sentence for social media posts calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire.
Farage also claimed the Online Safety Act will negatively impact trade between the US and UK as well as “threaten free speech across the West because of the knock-on rollout effects of this legislation from us or from the European Union”.
Whilst Republican representatives appeared to be receptive to Farage’s claims, Democrats were more critical.
@independent Nigel Farage has been dubbed a “Putin-loving free speech imposter and Trump sycophant” by a US congressman, who launched a savage takedown of the Reform leader before he was set to give evidence in Washington DC. Jamie Raskin urged voters in Britain to “think twice” before voting for Mr Farage, accusing him of only protecting free speech he agrees with. Click the link in bio for more
Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin noted that if Nigel Farage is so concerned about freedom of speech and the implications of the Online Safety Act then he might have a better case to speak out it in the UK, rather than in the US.
“Putin-loving, free speech impostor and Trump sycophant”
“He should go and advance the positions he’s taking here in Congress today, in Parliament, which is [also] meeting today if he’s serious about it,” Raskin said, noting that Farage missed Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to attend the hearing in Washington.
Raskin continued: “To the people of the UK who think this Putin-loving, free speech impostor and Trump sycophant will protect freedom in your country, come on over to America and see what Trump and MAGA are doing to destroy our freedom.
“You might think twice before you let Mr. Farage ‘Make Britain Great Again’.”
Furthermore, Raskin went on to claim both Farage and Trump “claim they’re protectors of free speech, but they only want to protect speech they agree with”.
“He [Farage] complains that racist threats against immigrants are not protected free speech, while he proposes to strip migrants, tourists and perhaps even visiting American congresspeople of any free speech rights at all,” he said.
“I had my own close encounter with that when Mr Farage and his team presented for more than an hour in a conversation we had about free speech. And after three minutes of talking, he cut me off and terminated the meeting because he didn’t like what I was saying.
“That’s the kind of free speech he’s committed to.”
Another Democrat, Hank Johnson, also accused Farage of only backing free speech to get on the good side of Elon Musk, saying the Reform leader is “trying to ingratiate [himself] with the tech bros”.
“You need money from Elon Musk in order to get elected prime minister of Great Britain. That’s the bottom line,” Johnson said.
Back in the UK, UK prime minister Keir Starmer took aim at Farage missing PMQs to “badmouth” and “talk down” Britain in the US.
“The honourable member for Clacton is not here representing his constituents in the house he was elected to. No, he has flown to America to badmouth and talk down our country,” Starmer said, branding Farage a “disgrace” and saying “you could not get more unpatriotic than that”.
In a scathing post shared on X, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey wrote: “Farage has gone to the US to tell them Britain is ”awful” – If you don’t like it over here Nigel maybe don’t catch a return flight?”
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