Farage a ‘Putin-loving, free speech impostor’ says Democrat before Reform head’s US speech – UK politics as it happened

Farage condemned as 'Putin-loving, free speech impostor and Trump sycophant' by ranking Democrat on House judiciary committee

Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House judiciary committee, says they do have free speech in the UK. He says Keir Starmer has not shut down GB News, even though Farage has a show on that station in which he criticises the government and calls for bans on peaceful protests.

He says Farage is able to parrot “Putin’s absurd talking points” on TV. He goes on:

For a man who fancies himself to some kind of a free speech martyr, Mr Farage seems most at home with the autocrats and dictators of the world who are crushing freedom on earth.

He says Farage wants to get rid of the Online Safety Act. But if he wants to do that, he should be advancing those arguments in the UK parliament, which is meeting today, Raskin says.

He goes on:

To the people of the UK who think this Putin-loving, free speech impostor and Trump sycophant will protect freedom in your country, come over to America and see what Trump and Mega are doing to destroy our freedom, kidnap college students off the street, ban books from our libraries, militarise our police and unleash them against our communities, take over our universities … You might think twice before you let Mr Farage “make Britain great again”.

Jamie Raskin. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

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Early evening summary

• Angela Rayner has admitted she underpaid stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat, after coming under intense pressure to be more transparent about her property arrangements.

• The Metropolitan police have declined to drop their investigation into the comedy writer Graham Linehan for tweets about trans issues, and said that the law used by officers to detain him needs reviewing.

• Rachel Reeves acknowledged that the UK economy is “not working well enough for working people” as she announced that her second budget will take place on 26 November, amid mounting speculation over tax increases.

• The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has suggested that her Tory counterpart, Robert Jenrick, was guilty of “risking the collapse of trial”, after he was criticised in court for tweeting about a criminal case.

• Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has been accused of being a “Putin-loving, free speech impostor and Trump sycophant” by a leading Democrat congressman in a committee hearing on Capitol Hill. (See 3.39pm.) And Labour has criticised Farage for suggesting that Donald Trump should use the threat of higher tariffs on the UK to secure exemptions for US firms from the Online Safety Act. (See 6.18pm.)

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Labour revives claim that Farage urging Trump to use tariff threat against UK to win concessions for tech firms

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has rejected suggestions that he has been urging Donald Trump to use the threat of sanctions to get US companies exempted from the Online Safety Act.

But he was quite careful about the words he used. In an interview with Sky News, when the reporter asked about Farage urging Trump to “sanction countries” (the reporter was referring to tariffs), Farage replied: “I have not used that word in any way.” (See 3.11pm.) Later he told the House judiciary committee: “I’ve not suggested sanctions, at all in any way.” (See 5.17pm.)

But sanctions are not the same as tariffs. (Rather, the word ‘sanction’ can be used generally, to mean a punitive measure, but it also has an explicit meaning in international law.) Farage may not have been proposing tariffs, but he was suggesting that the US might use tariff threats as leverage.

In his Sky interview, Farage said:

I’ve said that I hope that American political parties, leaders and businesses have a frank conversation with the British government and say, if you don’t sort this out, it’s going to have serious trade implications for both of us.

And Harry Cole from the Sun has posted this on social media defending his Sun story saying Farage was urging Trump to use the tariff threat.

Farage will also recommend the Committee “Declare as U.S. policy that foreign speech restrictions have no effect on Americans acting in the United States and on U.S.-hosted services even if accessed abroad, and instruct the Executive to defend this position in diplomacy and trade fora.”

Commenting on Farage’s Sky interview, Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said:

Jetting off to another country and hyping up the prospect of the UK’s trade with our closest allies being hit is about as anti-British as you can get. Labour negotiated a deal with the US that secured tens of thousands of jobs and Farage is advocating putting that at risk.

This just shows the risk Farage’s Reform pose if they ever got close to power. He waves our flag, but he represents anything but the best interests of the British people. And it’s working people who would be left to pay the price.

While Farage’s “Talk Britain Down” tour ramps up a gear, this Labour government is delivering the second phase of our Plan for Change, making sure we get more money back into working people’s pockets as quickly as possible and bring about the national renewal Britain needs.

UK may not have 'drawn line in right place' when it applies ECHR, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood tells peers

At another committee hearing earlier today, Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretarty, said she was not sure the UK has “the line in the right place” in the way it applies the European convention on human rights.

Giving evidence to the Lords constitution committee, Mahmood ruled out withdrawing from the ECHR. She said:

If you withdraw, you’re in a club that currently has two members [Russia and Belarus], and then we would be a third. The position of our government is the direct opposite of that.

But she confirmed that the government is committed to changing the way article 9 – the right to family life – is applied in the UK. She said:

Interestingly, if you talk to colleagues across Europe, there is a view that Britain is maybe more at the maximalist end of the spectrum when it comes to interpreting how we might comply with our international obligations.

I think it’s perfectly fine for us to question whether we have drawn the line in the right place, and the work that the home secretary is doing has both, you know, fresh guidance, secondary legislation or primary legislation all on the table as potential options.

But as I say, the Home Office have done their immigration white paper, where this work was a part of that and they will be seeing more a little later in the autumn about progress on that front.

James Ball, who writes for the New World (formerly the New European – the anti-Brexit paper) says on Bluesky that only today he was told he had been banned from Reform UK’s conference.

Nigel Farage’s Reform party let me know *today* that I was banned from attending its conference. I’m an accredited UK journalist who sent my media registration over in May. And now he’s told Congress he doesn’t do that.

Farage denies being personally involved in reporters being banned from Reform UK events

Back to the House judiciary committee, and Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House judiciary committee, asked Nigel Farage why he banned journalists from his events if he was committed to free speech.

Farage contested this. He said, at his press conferences, he took up to 25 questions.

He said he was the “most open person” to any journalists.

And Farage was also “the most handsome person in the world”, Raskin said sarcastically.

Raskin again asked why Farage banned journalists from his conferences.

Farage said he had not. But he said he did not know what other people might have done.

Raskin may have been referencing this report about journalists critical of Reform being banned from the party’s conference last year.

Labour's efforts to attract support on right 'have brought little reward', says election study

The British Election Study, the most authoritative study of voting behaviour in the UK, has published new research today looking at how support for Labour has declined since last summer. “Labour’s collapse in support since the 2024 General Election has been remarkable,” it says.

Though Reform has taken Labour’s place at the top of the polls, it is not the case that the two parties are simply trading voters. Reform’s rise has for the most part come from the Conservatives and non-voters, whereas Labour’s support has splintered between indecision and other left-liberal parties. Labour’s efforts to attract support on the right have brought little reward and have potentially alienated much of their base (who make up most of Labour’s losses), and there is a lot of work to be done to convince voters that they can make a difference on the economy. Labour have a large majority in Parliament and four years until they need to hold a new general election, but they have a difficult task to turn things around.

And here is one of the charts from the report.

Vote flows between the general election and May 2025 Photograph: British Election Study

Hank Johnson accused Farage of wanting the US to threat the UK with more tariffs if tech companies are not exempt from the Online Safety Act. He said:

What you’re arguing is that the citizens of Great Britain should pay a tariff if these tech companies are not allowed to violate the laws of Great Britain.

Farage replied:

No, I’m not – that was a falsehood put out by the British prime minister today. [See 12.25pm.]

What I’ve made perfectly clear in this paper [his written evidence to the committee – see 9.15am] is the situation we’ve got with successive pieces of legislation, including now the Online Safety Act, is a danger to trade between our countries and allies and friends and trading partners, have honest conversations with each other.

I hope many American companies and politicians have honest conversations from the British government. I’ve not suggested sanctions, at all in any way.

Nigel Farage giving evidence to the House judiciary committee. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

Streeting says it would be 'travesty' if Rayner had to resign

Back to Angela Rayner, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has told Radio 5 Live that it would be a “travesty” if she had to resign.

When it was put to him that Nadhim Zahawi had to resign as a Tory cabinet minister over his tax affairs, Streeting said:

What Angela was doing was not thinking how do I pay as little tax as possible. What she was thinking in terms of her housing situation was, how do I make sure there is provision for my kids long after I’ve gone

When she was growing up, she had nothing. And she grew up with that kind of insecurity and fear that she does not want for her children, especially her boy who’s got his disability. And she is doing what any parent in that situation would want to do …

I genuinely think she’s done the right thing for the right reasons. She’s held her hands up, and she’s working right now to put it right.

At the House judiciary committee Hank Johnson, a Democratic, put it to Nigel Farage, that, with only four MPs, he led a “fringe” party.

Farage said that he was certainly on the fringe.

Johnson put it to him that he was trying to get Elon Musk to fund his election campaign, and he suggested this was why he was speaking up for US tech companies.

Farage said that Musk regularly criticises him. He said they had a public falling out.

Back at the House judiciary committee, Farage is talking about hate speech laws in the UK. The police have to interpret these laws, he says. He say just today the head of the Metropolitan police has called for hate speech laws to be clarified. (See 12.45pm.)

But the situation may get worse, he claims, because the government wants to adopt a definition of Islamphobia.

Farage claims that this could lead to mocking religion becoming illegal.

On abortion laws, Farage also confirms that the law can prevent people praying outside abortion clinics.

(He does not explain that these abortion buffer zone laws are designed to stop users of abortion clinics being intimidated; it is not praying per se that is problematic, but the impact a protest of that kind may have on women seeking an abortion.)

Ben Quinn is a senior Guardian reporter.

“While the party wants to portray itself as respectable, professional, and serious about vetting, its employment of Catton shows it still has a very long way to go,” said Joe Mulhall, director of research at Hope not Hate.

Reform UK has been approached for comment.

Farage, and the other witnesses, are now taking questions.

Darrell Issa, a Republican, asks Farage to confirm that the UK does not have a constitutional right to free speech, equivalent to the US first amendment.

Farage confirms that is right.

But he says until Covid there was no debate about threats to free speech in the UK. With Covid, that changed, he claims.

Farage urges US politicians to tell UK government it's 'got this wrong' on Online Safety Act

At the committee Nigel Farage is speaking now.

He starts with a jibe about Jamie Raskin’s “delightful” introduction to him.

He says he accepts parents are concerned about what their children access online.

He thinks hardware changes might be the solution.

But instead the UK has gone down an “awful, authoritarian” direction, he says.

He says JD Vance did everyone a service by criticising Europe’s record on free speech at the Munich security conference.

He says Lucy Connolly put out an “intemperate” tweet last year. She was sentenced to 31 months in jail. She is now out. Farage said he wanted to bring her with him to Washington, but he could not because of the restrictions she is under.

(She posted a message on social media saying about asylum seeker saying “set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards”.)

And he turns to the arrest of Graham Linehan.

He was arrested at Heathrow for tweets posted months before, Farage says. And he was not even a British citizen; he is Irish. The same thing could happen to Americans at Heathrow, he suggests.

This could happen to any American man or woman that goes to Heathrow that has said things online that the British government and British police don’t like. It is a potentially big threat to tech bosses, to many, many others.

He says the Online Safety Act could damage trade between the US and the UK, and threaten free speech. He goes on:

So I’ve come today, as well to be a klaxon, to say to you, don’t allow, piece by piece, this to happen here in America. You will be doing us and yourselves and all freedom-loving people a favour if your politicians and your businesses said to the British government, you’ve simply got this wrong.

At what point did we become North Korea? Well, I think the Irish comedy writer found that out two days ago at Heathrow Airport.

This is a genuinely worrying, concerning and shocking situation, and I thank you for the opportunity to come here today.

Farage was referencing today’s Daily Mail splash.

Mail splash Photograph: Daily Mail

Farage condemned as 'Putin-loving, free speech impostor and Trump sycophant' by ranking Democrat on House judiciary committee

Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House judiciary committee, says they do have free speech in the UK. He says Keir Starmer has not shut down GB News, even though Farage has a show on that station in which he criticises the government and calls for bans on peaceful protests.

He says Farage is able to parrot “Putin’s absurd talking points” on TV. He goes on:

For a man who fancies himself to some kind of a free speech martyr, Mr Farage seems most at home with the autocrats and dictators of the world who are crushing freedom on earth.

He says Farage wants to get rid of the Online Safety Act. But if he wants to do that, he should be advancing those arguments in the UK parliament, which is meeting today, Raskin says.

He goes on:

To the people of the UK who think this Putin-loving, free speech impostor and Trump sycophant will protect freedom in your country, come over to America and see what Trump and Mega are doing to destroy our freedom, kidnap college students off the street, ban books from our libraries, militarise our police and unleash them against our communities, take over our universities … You might think twice before you let Mr Farage “make Britain great again”.

Jamie Raskin. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

The House judiciary committee hearing has started. But we have not heard from Nigel Farage yet.

Congressional committee hearings in the US are not like select committee hearings in London. Committee members are allowed to make lengthy statements, and the first five minutes or so was taken up with a long speech by Jim Jordan, the Republican committee chair. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, is speaking now.

Ed Davey backs Rayner, saying as fellow parent of disabled child he accepts she was prioritising her son's care needs

The Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has issued a statement supporting Angela Rayner in the controversy about her underpaying stamp duty. Like Rayner, Davey has a disabled child, and he says he is prepared to accept that in this case Rayner was acting in the best interests of her son.

(Rayner did not pay the full stamp duty owed when she bought a flat in Hove because, having put her stake in her previous family home in a trust on behalf of her son, she thought that it no longer counted as her property for stamp duty purposes.)

Davey said:

I understand it is normally the role of opposition leaders to jump up and down and call for resignations – as we’ve seen plenty of from the Conservatives already.

Obviously if the ethics advisor says Angela Rayner has broken the rules, her position may well become untenable.

But as a parent of a disabled child, I know the thing my wife and I worry most about is our son’s care after we have gone, so I can completely understand and trust that the deputy prime minister was thinking about the same thing here.

Perhaps now is a good time to talk about how we look after disabled people and how we can build a more caring country.