Nigel Farage faced hostile questioning from Democrat members during a US congressional hearing on censorship, where he was accused of being a 'Putin-loving free speech impostor' and a 'Trump sycophant'. The Reform UK leader missed Prime Minister's Questions to appear before the House judiciary committee at the invitation of its Republican leadership.
In his opening statement, Democrat Jamie Raskin criticised Farage for raising concerns about the UK's Online Safety Act in the US rather than in Parliament. '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. He added: '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.'
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also weighed in, posting 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?' Other Democrat members, including Jerrold Nadler and Hank Johnson, questioned the relevance of Farage's testimony, with Johnson accusing him of seeking donations from Elon Musk. Farage denied this, noting that Musk is 'abusive about me virtually every single week'.
Under questioning, Farage defended his free speech credentials, citing cases such as Lucy Connolly, jailed for a tweet urging violence against asylum seekers, and Graham Linehan. However, he faced scrutiny over Reform's exclusion of journalists from certain outlets, which he claimed he was unaware of. He also denied calling for US sanctions on Britain, urging instead for American persuasion on the issue.
