Nigel Farage has been accused of being a “Putin-loving free speech impostor” whose main motivation is ingratiating himself with Donald Trump and tech companies, during a sometimes difficult appearance before a US congressional hearing on censorship.
The Reform UK leader, who missed prime minister’s questions to appear as a witness before the House judiciary committee, was invited by its Republican leadership, who quizzed him about what Farage called the “awful authoritarian” situation for free speech in the UK.
But he also faced openly hostile questioning from Democrat members, who questioned whether he really backed free speech, with one asking why journalists from hostile publications had been banned from Reform events.
In an opening statement, the Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin said that if Farage was, as he said, worried about the implications of the UK’s Online Safety Act, he might have done better to make the case as an MP rather than in the US.
“He should go and advance the positions he’s taking here in Congress today in parliament, which is meeting today, if he’s serious about it,” Raskin said.
“To the people of the UK who think this Putin-loving free speech impostor and Trump sycophant will protect freedom in this 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.”
The Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, wrote on X: “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?”
Some other Democrat members were equally scathing. Jerrold Nadler asked why the committee had sought evidence from “a fringe politician from the United Kingdom”, while another, Hank Johnson, asked Farage to confirm that Reform currently has four MPs.
Johnson accused Farage of advocating for free speech so as to solicit donations from Elon Musk, the owner of X, saying: “You’re trying to ingratiate yourself with the tech bros.” He added: “You need money from Elon Musk in order to get elected prime minister of Great Britain. That’s the bottom line.”
Farage responded by pointing out that Musk did not support him: “Elon Musk is abusive about me virtually every single week, but it’s a free country.”
Raskin asked the Reform leader why he had called for a ban on a pro-Gaza protest, with Farage saying this was because it would have happened close to Remembrance Sunday, calling this a “sensitive” time.
Raskin replied: “I thought that’s what the freedom of speech was about. You have a right to engage in speech that other people consider offensive or insensitive.”
Raskin also asked why Reform often prevented journalists from critical organisations from attending its events. Farage said this did not happen with his knowledge: “If I go back the last 25 years, I can’t think of banning anybody. But I mean, maybe somebody else did.”
Under more sympathetic questioning from Republican members, Farage cited the cases of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for sending a tweet urging people to “set fire” to hotels housing asylum seekers, and of Graham Linehan, as “a klaxon” over the threat to free speech.
However, he denied calling for the US to place sanctions on Britain if it did not change its laws, saying that he only wanted American politicians and businesses to try to persuade the UK over this.
