POLL: Do you care about Nigel Farage’s £5m gift for securing Brexit? | UK | News
Nigel Farage said he received £5 million from a billionaire donor as a “reward for the Brexit campaign”. The Reform UK leader is under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, who will determine whether he broke Commons rules by not declaring the gift.
Farage was given the gift by prominent cryptocurrency investor and billionaire Christopher Harborne in early 2024. He had previously said he had no “obligation” to declare that he had received the gift before being elected as MP for Clacton. Farage recently told The Sun he was paid to secure Brexit, adding that he “can’t be bought by anyone”. However, political opponents argue that he should declare this in the MP’s list of interests after being elected to Parliament in July 2024.
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Farage told Sun: “It’s very unusual for someone to sacrifice 27 years of their life to campaign for something. And that was given to me unconditionally, completely unconditionally. But obviously it was given as a reward for 27 years of campaigning for Brexit.”
Meanwhile, Harborn, who lives in Thailand, said he gave the money to Farage “out of great admiration for the work he has done over the decades to deliver Brexit.” The billionaire made a single donation of £9 million to Reform UK last year.
Opposition parties have written to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner about the £5m gift. The Commons code of conduct states that new MPs “must register all existing financial interests and all recordable benefits (other than earnings) received in the 12 months before their election within one month of their election”.
A Tory spokesman said the money was “more than most people will earn in their lifetime”.
They added: “Nigel Farage needs to explain how he got it, why he got it and why he didn’t declare it.
“If there is a simple answer then these investigations should be welcomed. But as is often the case with the Reformation, there is something fishy about the whole story.”
Labor leader Anna Turley added: “Nigel Farage has been dodging legitimate questions since news of his billionaire backer’s ‘gift’. It’s right he faces a proper investigation.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Reform UK said: “Mr Farage’s office has been in contact with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. He has always been clear that this was a personal, unconditional gift and no rules were broken. We look forward to this being put to rest once and for all.”
