The optics are simply mind-boggling: five armed guards greeted Father Ted writer Graham Linehan at Heathrow just before Nigel Farage provided testimony to the US House Judiciary Committee on freedom of expression in the UK.

Several prominent American figures – including X boss Elon Musk and Vice-President JD Vance – have already voiced apprehension about the regulation of speech in the UK and across Europe. Linehan’s arrest played directly into their narrative; politicians at home and in the US keep an eagle eye on any hint of evidence of a hypocritical “two-tier” justice system, a conspiracy theory that right-wing or white people are treated more harshly by authorities.

Farage brought up both Linehan’s arrest and the imprisonment of Lucy Connolly – the former Tory councillor

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