Nigel Farage labelled ‘Putin loving freespeech sycophant’ at US Congress hearing

Nigel Farage has appeared in front of a US Congress hearing after a row over free speech, saying the UK has become ‘North Korea.’

Farage was invited to give evidence at the House Judiciary Committee hearing in the US today over Republican claims of attacks against free speech in Europe and the UK.

He was left red-faced when Democrat representative and member of the committee, Jamie Ruskin, criticised Farage’s appearance at the hearing, saying it is ‘just a drive-by hit against a strong democratic ally to benefit a Donald Trump sycophant and wannabe.

Mr Ruskin went on to describe Farage as a ‘Puting-loving free speech sycophant,’ adding that free speech is ‘not in crisis in the UK.’

Reform leader Nigel Farage gave a testimony over free speech at the US House Judiciary Committee in Washington DC (Picture: Getty Images)

‘No one has stopped Farage parroting Putin’s points. He seems most at home with the dictators of the world who are crushing free speech around the world,’ Mr Ruskin said.

Mr Ruskin introduced Farage with scathing remarks: ‘The star witness is not a human rights leader like Navalny but a far-right pro-Putin politician who leads the UK Reform Party, a party that is 4 members out of 650 members in the parliament.

‘He calls England an authoritarian regime, while saying that Vladimir Putin is the world leader he admires the most.

Farage hit back: ‘I’m delighted to reacquaint 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.

Nigel Farage railed against the controversial Online Safety Act during his visit to Washington DC (Picture: Reuters)

‘And in a sense, this has all been going wrong now for a couple of decades. We’ve kind of forgotten the Voltairean principles that we will fight and defend to the death your right to say something that we fundamentally disagree with.’

Moving on to the controversial Online Safety Act he has opposed, claiming that the UK is in an ‘awful authoritarian situation.’

The Clacton-on-Sea MP said: ‘We, of course, have Lucy Connolly, who put out an intemperate tweet after the savage murder of those three beautiful young girls.

‘She herself a mother who had lost a child. It was intemperate. It was wrong, but she removed it three and a half hours later, sentenced to 31 months in prison.

‘She’s now out, having served 40% of the time, I wanted to bring her with me today as living proof of what can go wrong. Sadly, the restrictions that have been put on her banned her from making the trip, which is a very, very great shame.’

He accused the limitations placed on social media platforms like X by the online regulations threatening trade between the US and the UK.

‘At what point did we become North Korea? This is a concerning development.’

The hearing opened with the chairman, Jim Jordan, lambasting the alleged risk to American free speech and ‘attempts to censor Americans,’ referring to the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

He described censorship laws like the UK’s Online Safety Act and EU legislation as a ‘threat from abroad.’

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