Campaign moves to Delaware
Nigel Farage’s campaign against the World Health Organization is relocating to the United States, establishing a new corporate presence in Delaware as a charitable foundation and grassroots non-profit. The move, which includes a revamped board of lobbyists, raises fresh questions about why the Reform UK leader is fronting an American pressure group while serving as an MP.
The organisation, Action on World Health (AWH), is now soliciting donations in US dollars and appealing for payments via US bank accounts. Its website invites supporters worldwide to email their politicians about the WHO, but notably omits an option for individuals in the United Kingdom to contact their representatives. The relocation coincides with the United States having already withdrawn from the WHO under the Trump administration, a process completed in January 2026 after the president initiated it in 2025. Washington still owes approximately $280 million in unpaid dues, according to the WHO, which insists the debt must be settled for the withdrawal to be final.
New board members and their roles
As part of the relaunch, Farage has appointed two long-standing allies to the AWH board. Andy Wigmore, a longtime friend and fellow Brexit campaigner, takes the role of treasurer. Wigmore was a central figure in the Leave.EU campaign alongside Arron Banks and previously served as a diplomat for Belize. Gerry Gunster, an American lobbyist and political strategist who worked on Farage’s 2016 EU referendum leave campaign, also joins the board. Gunster is president and chief executive of Gunster Strategies Worldwide, a firm that specialises in issue advocacy and ballot-measure campaigns and was previously engaged by Leave.EU.
Other London-based board members include Amanda Moslé Friedman, a US businesswoman and associate of Farage who works for the nuclear technology company IP3 and also serves as principal of Mosle Associates Consulting. She has acted as a special projects adviser for the Rwanda Development Board. Greg Swenson, chair of Republicans Overseas UK and a founding partner of the investment bank Brigg Macadam Ltd, completes the line-up. Farage himself serves as honorary chair of the campaign, a role he belatedly declared to the MPs’ register of interests after becoming the Reform UK MP for Clacton in July 2024.
Campaign goals and controversies
Action on World Health 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 group’s manifesto, released before the 2024 UK general election, opposes what it calls “excessive regulation” on vaping, arguing that “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 95% less harmful than smoking.” The stance directly clashes with the WHO’s own position: the global health body has called for urgent action to prevent youth e-cigarette use, advocating a worldwide ban on flavoured vapes, new taxes and reduced nicotine concentrations, citing “alarming evidence” of adverse population health effects.
The WHO has accused AWH of spreading misinformation about its international treaty designed to improve global pandemic preparedness. The campaign asserts that the so-called pandemic agreement undermines national sovereignty.
Nicotine industry links under scrutiny
The campaign’s ties to the nicotine industry have drawn particular attention. AWH was co-founded by David Roach, a Reform UK local election candidate, who serves as its president and chief executive. Roach’s company previously provided secretariat services to the Global Initiative on Novel Nicotine (GINN), an organisation that advocates for nicotine pouches and other products. His firm also lobbied on behalf of the vaping company ANDS. Roach left GINN in November 2024, but the earlier connections were revealed by the Guardian.
When questioned about his clients, Roach stated that no vaping or novel nicotine companies were providing funding to Action on World Health, and that David Roach Consulting was not being paid for its services to the organisation. He said AWH did not have a public list of funders because that would breach confidentiality. Transparency watchdogs, including the campaign group Spotlight on Corruption, have criticised the lack of disclosure. A spokesperson for Spotlight on Corruption said: “This shows how urgently stricter rules on MPs’ second jobs and side hustles are needed. It is disappointing that there has been so little progress on this so far despite this being a major manifesto commitment.”
Farage launched the group in May 2024 and has since made at least ten trips to the United States. His unpaid role was not declared to the MPs’ register of interests until later that year. Neither Action on World Health, Reform UK nor David Roach responded to requests for comment on the group’s relocation.