NIGEL Farage warned any American could be the next Graham Linehan to be arrested after arriving in “awful authoritarian” Britain.
Giving evidence to the US Congress, the Reform leader compared the UK to communist North Korea, adding no one was safe from the reach of our overbearing regulators and cops for things they post on social media.
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He told a heated session of the House Judiciary Committee that the comedian’s arrest “could happen to any American man or woman who has said something online that the British government doesn’t like”.
The row over free speech in the UK risks upending Donald Trump’s state visit later this month after the Father Ted creator was detained by five armed officers over a joke on X and published while he was in the United States.
Opening his three hour grilling, Mr Farage lamented: “I come from the land of the Magna Carta, the mother of parliaments, it doesn’t give me any great joy to be sitting in America describing the awful authoritarian situation we have sunk into”.
And he asked the at times fiery hearing: “At what point did we become North Korea?”
But he hit back at an attack from Sir Keir Starmer that he was urging the US government to slap “sanctions” on countries with a poor free speech record.
As The Sun revealed yesterday, Mr Farage’s written evidence to the inquiry suggested the US enforce freedom of speech with “diplomacy and trade”.
Leaping on the comments at PMQs, Sir Keir said Mr Farage had “flown to America to badmouth and talk down our country” and suggested the Americans impose sanctions on the UK, adding that “you cannot get more unpatriotic than that, it’s a disgrace”.
But Mr Farage denied that, saying: “No, I’m not – that was a falsehood put out by the British Prime Minister today.”
He also came under sustained attacks from Democrats on the committee due to his close relationship with US President Donald Trump.
And he was accused of doing the bidding of tech giants in his pledge to abolish the Online Safety Act if he reaches No10.
Democratic congressman Hank Johnson blasted: “You are here today to impress all of those tech bros, including Elon Musk.
“You need money from Elon Musk in order to get elected prime minister of Great Britain?”
But Mr Farage pointed to his “public falling out” with the world’s richest man who has slammed Reform online as sellouts.
Mr Johnson also accused Mr Farage of suggesting “that the citizens of Great Britain should pay a tariff if the tech companies violate the laws of Great Britain”.
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But he hit back: “I’ve not suggested sanctions at all in any way”, adding: “I can see Elon Musk is abusive about me virtually every single week, but it’s a free country.”
Leading Democrat Jamie Raskin accused Mr Farage of being a “Trump sycophant” adding: “You might think twice before you let Mr Farage make Britain great again.”
Mr Farage exited the meeting swerving questions over whether he was off to the White House to meet the President, saying there was a “difference between free speech and discretion.”
The highly anticipated appearance before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee comes just a day after comedian Linehan revealed he was arrested over online comments when arriving in the UK from the states.
Mr Farage said last night: “The Graham Linehan case is yet another example of the war on freedom in the UK.
“I will discuss this, the Lucy Connolly case and the increasing role of our police in non-crime ‘hate’ incidents on Capitol Hill tomorrow.
“Free speech is under assault and I am urging the USA to be vigilant.”
The US politicians are probing “Europe’s Threat to American Speech and Innovation”, with the UK’s Online Safety Act and criminal sanctions over speech firmly in their sights.
In written evidence submitted and seen by The Sun, Mr Farage warned the OSA “risks exporting restrictive standards to the United States that will violate the constitutional rights of American citizens” who are protected under First Amendment protections over speech.
And in a move that risks a major row in Westminster, he will urge the US government to seek direct exemption from US hosted content and for US based firms from the scope of UK regulators.
Mr Farage suggests the White House use “diplomacy and trade” to enforce the measures which could impact Britain directly, despite assurances by the PM directly to Donald Trump in July that there would be no censorship of US content.
He will also raise the case of freed mum Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for incitement for a post on X, saying: “The Connolly case captures the UK’s readiness to criminalize merely unpleasant, challenging, or incendiary online speech under a legal threshold markedly different from U.S. law.”
In a written testimony prepared ahead of today’s hearing, Mr Farage added: “Free speech is a fundamentally British value.
“We would do well to remember that every signatory of the American Declaration of Independence was, after all, a British subject.
“On the question of civil liberties, Britain has, unfortunately, now lost her way.
“I will do my part, as a participant in UK democracy, to help our country find its way back to the traditional freedoms which have long bound together our two countries in friendship.
“In the meantime, Congress should draw bright lines: British free speech rules, applicable to Britons, are made in Britain, and American speech rules, applicable to Americans, are made in America.
“Somewhere on this planet of ours, innovators must remain free to build the next generation of platforms without being hamstrung by illiberal and authoritarian censorship regimes that are alien to both American and traditionally British values.
“Right now, that place is America. Those of us in the UK will do what we can to make Britain such a place as well.”
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