Voices: Patriotism is more than wearing union jack socks and demonising refugees, Mr Farage

Farage didn’t get, as far as can be seen, even a handshake recorded by the official photographer. If anything, Farage looked more like the kind of English butler that wealthy Americans used to hire to show off their wealth. Trump certainly didn’t sound off on Truth Social or X about his great friend and how he wants him to be PM. Maybe, given Trump’s massive unpopularity in the UK, that’s just as well from Nigel’s point of view.

Worse than that, his hearing before a Congressional committee on free speech didn’t go as well as Farage might (but shouldn’t) have expected. You don’t have to be Wolf Blitzer to know that about half of a Congressional committee would be hostile Democrats, but Farage, arrogant as ever, thought he could handle them. He couldn’t. He had his “ass”, as they say, handed to him on multiple occasions, and emerged an even smaller man, especially after they found out he’d skived off to an interview with his own propaganda channel, GB News.

Farage was also sporting a GB News badge as a little bit of additional brand marketing, rather than a nice enamel union jack lapel pin, which is off, given that his allies are banging on about raising the flag at every opportunity. Captive, unable to just walk out under tough questioning, deflect onto some whataboutery or say “boring!” like some kid, Farage had to sit there, not interrupt or insult the panel, and take his punishment. It was a delight.

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, who could teach our Labour folk a thing or two, stung the “patriot” Farage hard when he told him that if he was so was so worried about the British Online Safety Act, he might have been better advised to make a fuss in the legislature to which he’s been elected, not a foreign one: “He should go and advance the positions he’s taking here in Congress today in parliament, which is meeting today, if he’s serious about it.”

Raskin called Farage a “Putin-loving free speech impostor”, which is as accurate an epigram as any. Farage obviously bristled when Hank Johnson, from Georgia, told him he was “a fringe party leader” who was “here today to impress all of those tech bros”. Even more hurtful was the idea put to Farage that he’d still love to have some of Elon Musk’s money, having to explain to the Americans that he’d had a falling out with Musk, and such lavish funding was going to Reform’s rival Advance, headed by his former Reform deputy leader Ben Habib.

In the past, Farage found that his mixture of faux patriotic bluster, brash posturing, and disdain served him well in the genteel, bovine environment of the European Parliament, but he’s been a flop at Westminster – even when he’s there – and was thoroughly spanked by the Americans. He should have remembered that when Congress wants to, it can destroy even the most determined demagogue, as it once did with Senator Eugene McCarthy, and when it dispatched one Richard Milhous Nixon. Getting above himself and making the absurd claim that the UK has turned into North Korea, Farage was rightly punished for his hubris.

Farage would have been far, far better off attending PMQs, laying into Angela Rayner and capitalising on Kemi Badenoch’s tragically poor performance as leader of the opposition. Instead, Keir Starmer gleefully pointed out the simple, uncomfortable truth about this Farage excursion “to badmouth and talk down our country” and “to lobby the Americans to impose sanctions on this country that will harm working people”.

What did we learn from this episode of Mr Farage Goes to Washington? First, that Farage is vulnerable and that he hates being challenged by a confident, well-briefed interlocutor. In a TV debate or in a media interview, he can be pinned down and exposed for the charlatan he is. In that context, it’s no surprise he spends as little time as possible in the Commons – he’s not up to parliamentary combat, as we’ve already seen with his rare appearances, and he avoids lengthy interrogations. He has rarely been properly held to account in recent times for the damage Brexit has done, why his immigration policies and plans for the NHS are unworkable, and why his economic “policy” makes Liz Truss look cautious.

Second, it gives a little glimpse into what a poor statesman and representative for Britain Farage would be if he got any closer to power – and especially if the Democrats ever get back into power. His fragile ego, mediocre intellect, and sheer ignorance are not what any country needs in its leader.

Third, and most depressingly, it shows that when there’s a choice between his own lust for publicity and fame in the United States and the national interests of the United Kingdom, it is Farage that Farage puts first. He claimed later that he never wanted Trump to sanction Britain for its laws on inciting racial and other hatred, and protecting children from online predators. Yet his own written submission urges the Americans to “declare as US policy that foreign speech restrictions have no effect on Americans acting in the United States and on US-hosted services even if accessed abroad, and instruct the Executive to defend this position in diplomacy and trade fora”.

“Trade fora” being the very discussions on reducing tariffs and expanding the trade deal Starmer and his colleagues are working so hard on – precisely to offset the malign effects of the Brexit Farage campaigned so hard for. A US free trade deal – and a proper, comprehensive one remains far off – is the one thing Farage can claim to be a “Brexit benefit”, yet he’s actively sabotaging it. He is asking the Americans to exert the kind of coercive control over British laws and policy that he accused the European Union of doing for so long. Hardly standing up for British sovereignty, are we, Nigel?

It does rather look, sadly, as if Farage puts himself before his party, and his party before his country. Patriotism and leadership are more than demonising refugees and wearing union jack socks.