Farage branded ‘Putin-loving free speech imposter and Trump sycophant’ in savage takedown by US congressman
Nigel Farage was branded a “Putin-loving free speech imposter and Trump sycophant” by a US congressman on Wednesday who launched a severe critique of the Reform UK leader before the Briton gave evidence to a committee in Washington DC.
Democrat representative Jamie Raskin urged voters in Britain to “think twice” before voting for Mr Farage, accusing him of only protecting free speech he agrees with.
His comments came as Mr Farage, who has been heavily critical of free speech in the UK, with claims police are too heavy-handed with their arrests of people accused of hate speech, gave evidence on the subject to the US House judiciary committee.
Mr Raskin said: “To the people of the UK who think this Putin-loving free speech imposter 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’.”
Giving evidence later in the session, Mr Farage hit back, saying: “You can say what you like, I don’t care.”
In his stinging attack, Mr Raskin argued that Donald Trump and Mr Farage “both claim they’re protectors of free speech, but they only want to protect speech they agree with”.
“He [Mr 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.
“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,” Mr Raskin said.
Mr Farage has proposed replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights – applying only to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in the UK.
Mr Raskin argued that while there is a free speech crisis in America, “there’s no free speech crisis in Britain”.
He pointed out that “no one has stopped Mr Farage from parroting Putin’s absurd talking points”, a reference to the MP’s previous suggestion that Nato provoked the war in Ukraine, as well as pointing out that Sir Keir Starmer has not shut down news organisation GB News, where Mr Farage has his own show, which is critical of the government.
Giving evidence to the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, the Reform UK leader 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.”
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