Brexit boss Nigel Farage appeared yesterday at a House Judiciary Committee session to make the case for US support in bolstering free speech rights in the United Kingdom. While GOP members were sympathetic to the plight of Britons facing increasingly draconian crackdowns, Democrat attendees took the opportunity to denounce Mr. Farage and close ranks with the global left. From shocking accusations to international ignorance, certain elected politicians displayed what can only be called open hostility to the man who could well be the future prime minister. Worse, they also failed to recognize the threat to Americans’ First Amendment rights in favor of partisan point scoring.
At the Wednesday, September 3, hearing titled “Europe’s Threat to American Speech and Innovation,” Mr. Farage – a sitting member of parliament and the man most likely to lead the next British government – highlighted a string of high-profile free speech cases currently taking place in the UK and explained why Britain’s new Online Safety Act (OSA) could prove to be troublesome even beyond national borders.
Farage discussed the recent case of well-known comedy writer Graham Linehan (the co-creator of hit comedy sitcom Father Ted), who was arrested this week when entering the UK at Heathrow Airport. With five armed police to take the 57-year-old into custody, one might assume he was a particularly dangerous suspect. In fact, he was arrested for three X posts he had sent out earlier in the year. The posts were what one might expect from a comedian – in one case displaying an overhead picture of a trans-rights rally and writing, “A photo you can smell.”
It becomes even more worrisome when digging into the details. First, Linehan states on his Substack that he suspected something was awry. He writes:
“Something odd happened before I even boarded the flight in Arizona. When I handed over my passport at the gate, the official told me I didn’t have a seat and had to be re-ticketed. At the time, I thought it was just the sort of innocent snafu that makes air travel such a joy. But in hindsight, it was clear I’d been flagged.”
If his suspicions are correct, it means that authorities within the US helped coordinate his arrest. Second, Linehan is not even a UK citizen; he is Irish with an Irish passport. What does this mean for Americans who plan to travel to the United Kingdom? If a non-national can be arrested for social media posts, this becomes an issue for everyone who either visits or does business with the state.
Mr. Linehan is not an isolated incident. Figures suggest that more than 1,000 people per month are arrested for posts they make online. With the OSA now in place, it’s difficult to see how this number will go down.
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While Mr. Linehan was arrested under the 1986 Public Order Act, the new OSA gives fresh teeth to laws that criminalize speech. And Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) seems fully aware of it.
Mr. Jordan said, “In addition to attacking American tech companies, Europe is attacking free speech around the world, including here in America.” In coordination with the EU’s Digital Services Act, American businesses are forced to toe the line or face penalties worth millions of dollars. And how does a company comply? Simple: Restrict what individuals can post online.
“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. That is the absolute foundation, if you think about it, of free speech, of democracy, of living in freedom,” Nigel Farage said.
He further compared the current state of free speech in the UK to that of North Korea, noting that the new law would “damage trade between our countries.”
While Farage was well-received by Republicans on the panel, Democratic members were less than thrilled to have him attend. Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin escalated an ongoing war of words with the Brit politician, saying:
“The dictators of this world have nothing to fear from this hearing … This hearing is just a drive-by hit against a strong Democratic ally to benefit a Donald Trump sycophant and wannabe.”
The “ally” in question here is UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who pushed the OSA through parliament. And while Nigel Farage is certainly a supporter of President Trump, the issues he raised have a direct impact on American citizens.
Soon-to-be-retiring Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) questioned why Farage was even there, calling him “a fringe politician from the United Kingdom,” which displayed a stunning lack of international politics. After all, Mr. Farage’s Reform Party is currently polling more than both the leading Labour Party and the Conservative Party combined, and barring any Black Swan events, will almost certainly form the next UK government.
It’s fair to question how much input elected US leaders should have on foreign legislation – if any at all. But when such laws have a clear, direct impact on the fundamental First Amendment rights of American citizens, it becomes their duty to at least scrutinize and explore the ramifications.
Instead, left-leaning politicos decided that they would ignore free speech threats in favor of lambasting a Trump ally, burn bridges with a potential future PM, and score political points. It seems that, for some, constitutional freedoms are secondary to performative partisanship.
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