In an appearance before the Republican-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Nigel Farage told American lawmakers that Britain is like North Korea in terms of free speech, harshly criticizing the London government’s record. The leader of the Trump-aligned Reform UK party, whose right-wing populist group is polling strongly despite holding only four parliamentary seats, cited the arrest of Irish playwright Graham Linehan as an example of the “great threat” the UK poses to freedom of expression.
British police arrested Linehan at London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday in relation to his social media posts concerning transgender people. He was suspected of incitement to violence under the Public Order Act. “This could happen to any American, man or woman, who goes to Heathrow and has said things online that the British government and police do not like,” Farage told the U.S. Congress. “At what point did we become North Korea?” he said to the committee, adding, “Well, I think the Irish playwright found out two days ago at Heathrow Airport.”
Farage had been invited to speak to the committee on the “threat of Europe to American free speech and innovation,” as Republicans ramp up criticism of various EU and UK policies aimed at tightening tech regulation, including Britain’s Online Safety Act. Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, a loyal ally of former President Donald Trump, stated he was “concerned about the attacks on free speech in Europe, the censorship, the arrests for offensive posts” and the “limits” that EU and UK laws would impose on Americans’ First Amendment right to free speech.
On Wednesday morning, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had labeled Farage “unpatriotic” for flying to the United States to “speak ill and belittle our country.” “He went there to lobby the American people to impose sanctions on this country, which would harm workers,” Starmer stated.