Farage’s £13,000 speech to anti-abortion extremists

The Reform UK leader lists £25,000 in earnings from AZ Liberty Network on his register of interests. The sum includes £13,000 for a speech he gave last August to a collection of American lobby groups at the Keep Arizona Free Summit.

At the event Farage praised the “grassroots army” of attendees who he said were helping to ensure “the wind is beginning to turn in our direction”. He added: “This is the route to victory, the route to saving western civilisation… With your love for your families, your communities, your faith and your country it’s organisations like this that point the way to victory.”

Among the groups that make up AZ Liberty Network is TPUSA Faith, a spinoff of the alt-right pressure group Turning Point USA, where conspiracy theorist Candace Owens – who has since been sued by France’s President Macron for suggesting his wife is a man – played a senior role. Owens’ former colleague, the conservative podcaster Brandon Tatum – who referred to the US reproductive health charity Planned Parenthood as “Planned Satanhood” – also spoke at the event.

Another organisation in the network whose members were there is Red State Reform, which believes “all of creation ought to be submitted to God’s law – including public policy”. It is part of an umbrella organisation, End Abortion Now.

Red State Reform has called abortion “the highest crime being committed today” and claimed that “abortion was forced upon Northern Ireland”.

Other attendees included pro-life groups Arizona Right to Life, Arizona Women of Action and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which campaigns against what it calls the “government takeover of [the US] health system”.

Since becoming MP for Clacton, Farage has repeatedly suggested that he disagrees with the UK’s legal limit for terminations. At a press conference in May, he described himself as pro-choice and said it was “utterly ludicrous” that abortion was allowed in the UK up to 24 weeks.

Asked if Farage shared the views of any of the attendees or fellow speakers at the Keep Arizona Free summit, a spokesperson for the MP declined to comment.

Farage was quoted by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the abolitionist group whose pressure contributed to the overturning of Roe v Wade, describing UK abortion buffer zones as a “crackdown on free expression” which was “becoming very sinister”. Abolitionists are an extreme subset of anti-abortion campaigners who argue that it is equal to murder and comparable to the slave trade. Last week The Observer reported that the ADF’s UK branch has received more than £4.9m in donations.

Farage was also quoted saying: “We get censored simply for demanding the truth. I will continue to fight this.”