Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, has been in the United States this week, decrying what he calls Britain's 'awful authoritarian situation' regarding free speech. Speaking in Washington, he launched the US branch of a TV station he works for and sought American help to combat alleged censorship in the UK. However, critics point to hypocrisy within his own party's actions back home.
Farage's comments come as he basks in the glow of a meeting with Donald Trump at the Oval Office, where he grinned beside the US president. Yet, as Guardian columnist Marina Hyde notes, Trump's admiration for Farage echoes his earlier praise for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, whom he once said 'loves his country very much' and wrote 'beautiful letters'. Hyde contrasts this with the reality of the UK's free speech situation, arguing that while improvements are needed, Farage's party itself engages in anti-media behaviour.
Hyde highlights that Trump's administration has pressured the Smithsonian to align exhibits with his executive orders, threatened university funding over teaching methods, and attacked the press. She questions the credibility of free speech lectures from a country with book bans and a leader who admires dictators. Meanwhile, Reform UK's own record includes a 'ludicrous piece of free-speech hypocrisy' involving its underlings, which Hyde says Farage ignores while abroad.
The article concludes that Farage would rather be used as a pawn in US partisan politics than address free speech issues at home, such as those in Nottinghamshire, where local councils face their own controversies. Hyde suggests that the golden rule of this free speech crusade is that Farage and Trump are allowed to 'chat rubbish' while others are not.
