Democrats accuse Reform leader of being a ‘Trump sycophant’ as he missed prime minister’s questions to give evidence before House committee
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 have 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.
