The Reform UK leader was giving evidence to the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, where he likened Britain to North Korea over what he described as the “authoritarian” treatment of people like writer Graham Linehan.
At a hearing on Wednesday, he denied proposing Washington threaten the UK with trade sanctions amid scrutiny of his suggestion that the White House use “diplomacy and trade” in the battle for free speech.
Nigel Farage said it did not bring him ‘any great joy’ to speak about free speech concerns in the UK (Andrew Milligan/PA)
However, moments before his evidence started, Democrat representative Jamie Raskin called the Reform MP a “Trump sycophant” and urged him to air his concerns at home in the Commons.
Mr Raskin echoed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s criticism of Mr Farage for missing Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday as he attacked UK laws on a trip to Washington.
“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.
“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.”
Responding, Mr Farage said: “I’m delighted to be acquainted with the charming Mr Raskin – delightful testimony you gave me earlier on with your speech.
“But hey, that’s fine. You can say what you like, I don’t care, because that’s what free speech is.
“In a sense, this has all been going wrong now for a couple of decades.”
Earlier at PMQs, Sir Keir had said, in response to a question about Reform UK’s opposition to the Online Safety Act, that the “honourable member for Clacton is not here representing his constituency, in the House he was elected to.”
He said Mr Farage had instead “flown to America to badmouth and talk down our country” and suggest the Americans impose sanctions on the UK, adding that “you cannot get more unpatriotic than that, it’s a disgrace”.
The Reform leader denied having suggested America threaten Britain with sanctions, saying: “No, I’m not – that was a falsehood put out by the British Prime Minister today.”
It comes after he proposed in a pre-written statement to the committee that the White House use “diplomacy and trade” to defend free speech abroad.
“What I’ve made perfectly clear in this paper is the situation we’ve got with successive pieces of legislation, including now the Online Safety Act, is a danger to trade between our countries and allies and friends and trading partners, have honest conversations with each other,” Mr Farage said on Wednesday.
The Clacton MP raised the arrest of Irish writer Linehan for comments on social media about transgender people, and the jailing of former childminder and wife of a Conservative councillor Lucy Connolly for stirring up racial hatred against asylum seekers in the aftermath of the Southport murders last year.
“It doesn’t give me any great joy to be sitting in America and describing the really awful authoritarian situation that we have now sunk into,” Mr Farage said.
Of Connolly’s social media post that led to her guilty plea and imprisonment, he said: “It was intemperate, it was wrong, but she removed it three and a half hours later. Sentenced to 31 months in prison. She’s now out, having served 40% of the time.
“I wanted to bring her with me today as living proof of what can go wrong.
“Sadly, the restrictions that have been put on her banned her from making the trip, which is a very, very great shame.”
Connolly, who was freed from prison last month at the automatic release point of her sentence, had said in a post on X: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care … if that makes me racist so be it.”
Of Linehan’s arrest, Mr Farage said: “At what point did we become North Korea? Well, I think the Irish comedy writer found that out two days ago at Heathrow Airport.”
The Father Ted writer has said he was stopped by five armed officers at Heathrow Airport over three posts and taken into a cell to be questioned over messages on X about transgender issues.
One of the posts said: “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
Another was a photograph of a trans-rights protest, with the comment “a photo you can smell”, with a follow-up post saying: “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has since said his officers are in “an impossible position” when dealing with statements made online, and should not be “policing toxic culture wars debates”.
The head of Scotland Yard said he would make suggestions to the Government about how laws governing social media posts could be changed.
British-American non-profit group the Centre for Countering Digital Hate said Mr Farage’s comparison of the UK to North Korea was “incredibly dispiriting”.
The centre’s chief executive Imran Ahmed told the PA news agency the MP had made the “silly and hyperbolic claim” because the UK chose to “protect children online” and place a duty of care on tech firms with the Online Safety Act.
