Nigel Farage was branded a “Putin-loving free speech imposter and Trump sycophant” by a US congressman during a congressional hearing on censorship in Washington DC.

The leader of Reform UK, a right-wing populist party founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party which has since rebranded and is known for its controversial anti-immigration and eurosceptic policies, appeared as a witness before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday (3 September).

During the hearing, Farage claimed the UK has “sunk into” a “really awful authoritarian situation” and had become “North Korea”. To back this up, he cited concerns over the Online Safety Act, recent arrest of gender-critical pundit Graham Linehan and jailing of Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor who was handed a prison sentence for social media posts calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set on fire.

Farage also claimed the Online Safety Act will negatively impact trade between the US and UK as well as “threaten free speech across the West because of the knock-on rollout effects of this legislation from us or from the European Union”.

Whilst Republican representatives appeared to be receptive to Farage’s claims, Democrats were more critical.