Nigel Farage’s anti-WHO campaign moves to US with allies added to board

Farage, pictured in London last week, is the honorary chair and co-founder of the campaign group. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA View image in fullscreen Farage, pictured in London last week, is the honorary chair and co-founder of the campaign group. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA Nigel Farage’s anti-WHO campaign moves to US with allies added to board Relocation of Action on World Health raises questions over why Reform UK leader is involved in a US pressure group Nigel Farage’s campaign against the World Health Organization (WHO) is moving to the US with a new board of lobbyists, raising questions over why the Reform UK leader is involved in an American pressure group. The Action on World Health campaign, co-founded by Farage, is relocating to the US state of Delaware as a charitable foundation and grassroots non-profit. As part of its relaunch, it has hired Farage’s longtime friend and Brexit campaigner Andy Wigmore for its board, alongside Gerry Gunster, an American lobbyist and political strategist who worked on Farage’s leave campaign for the 2016 EU referendum. View image in fullscreen Andy Wigmore. Photograph: Future Publishing/Getty Images Farage is the honorary chair of Action on World Health, which is pushing for the replacement of the WHO, an organisation it claims is too close to China, “compromised by private funding” and “far left”. The decision to move the campaign to the US and solicit donations in dollars comes after Farage has spent a substantial amount of time there since becoming an MP in July 2024, making at least 10 trips to the US in that time. The pressure group’s website is now appealing for donations by payment card or US bank account and has a website form for people from around the world to email their politicians to speak out against the WHO, although it does not include an option for people from the UK to email their politicians. Under Donald Trump, the US has already left the WHO, which coordinates global responses to pandemics and other health threats. Action on World Health has other London-based board members including Amanda Moslé Friedman, a US businesswoman and associate of Farage who works for the nuclear technology company IP3, and Greg Swenson, the chair of Republicans Overseas UK. In 2024, the Guardian revealed Action on World Health had links to the nicotine industry. Its other co-founder is David Roach, a Reform UK local election candidate, whose company previously provided secretariat services to the Global Initiative on Novel Nicotine, which advocated for nicotine pouches and other products. Roach’s company also lobbied on behalf of a vaping company called ANDS. In the Action on World Health “manifesto”, released before the UK election in 2024, it opposed “excessive regulation” on vaping. It said: “Adults should be treated like adults, instead of the WHO bullying countries into treating its citizens like children through excessive regulations on food, alcohol, fizzy drinks, and vaping products that are