Tutti Amici
Transatlantic think tanks, American lobbysts and... Farage
Nigel Farage is facing renewed questions over transparency and the growing overlap between his political circle, a private consultancy, transatlantic think tanks active in climate and energy policy debates and missed disclosures in the MPs Register of Interests.
In September 2024, Farage travelled to Chicago to headline the Heartland Institute’s 40th Anniversary Benefit Dinner. The event was billed as a fundraiser for the organisation’s international expansion, including plans to establish a UK branch. Tickets reportedly reached $50,000 for a seat at Farage’s table. No flights, accommodation or speaker fees from the trip are currently listed in his Register of Interests.
Three months later, December 2024, Farage attended the launch of Heartland UK & Europe in London, where Lois Perry was named Director. Perry, a media commentator and campaigner, briefly served as leader of UKIP before founding Car26, a group opposing Net Zero policies. The new Heartland arm was presented as a transatlantic extension of the institute’s free-market and climate-policy agenda.
The Heartland Institute has longstanding links with senior figures from the Trump administration. In the United States, Myron Ebell, a policy adviser to Heartland, led Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team in 2016. The organisation also hosted Trump officials including former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke at its policy conferences.
Public filings show Heartland has received funding from U.S. conservative donors such as DonorsTrust and the Mercer Family Foundation, both of which also backed Trump-aligned causes.
Farage appeared with Heartland a third time on 18 June 2025, speaking at a Westminster panel titled “Net Zero: The New Brexit?” alongside Professor Gwythian Prins, Lady Sarah Elliott of the Prosperity Institute, and Perry. The event, held at 55 Tufton Street, signalled Heartland UK’s active engagement in Britain’s political debate on energy and Net Zero policy.
No earnings or benefits from the June 2025 appearance have been declared in Farage’s Register of Interests. Perhaps Farage did it pro-bono, but the setting of “Students For Reform” by Heartland, discussed below, could suggest benefit in kind.
Separately, in March 2025, Farage travelled to Florida to attend a “Disruptors” dinner, which was not declared until The Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund exposed the omission in September 2025. Farage later amended the Register of Interests, declaring £25,000 in earnings channelled through Imperial Independent Media, a US PR and political consultancy.
Meanwhile, Perry is also leading a new campus initiative called “Students for Reform,” as mentioned before, described by observers as an ideological student-outreach project echoing earlier youth-mobilisation efforts linked to Farage’s associates, including those active at Durham University and Turning Point UK. The creation of a new group focused on students could indicate the beginning of some distancing between Turning Point UK and Farage.
Perry also seems particularly well connected with GB News. She invited Nana Akua to watch PMQs from the gallery in April/23, on the day Lee Anderson and Andrew Bridgen had an altercation, using tickets that Lee gave her. She was also seen partying with Alex Armstrong, another GB News presenter.
Taken together, the Chicago, London, Florida and Westminster appearances reveal a recurring overlap between Farage’s activities, US consultancy/PR companies, and think tanks advocating climate-sceptical positions. The pattern underscores how private consultancies and ideological institutes are operating in close proximity around themes of energy, sovereignty and political reform — often beyond the full visibility of formal parliamentary disclosures.