Nigel Farage urged to root out Reform links to Russia after jailing of Nathan Gill | Reform UK

Nigel Farage is facing calls to investigate and root out links between Reform Britain and Russia after one of his former senior politicians was sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking a bribe from a pro-Kremlin operative.

Keir Starmer said Farage had questions to answer about how this happened in his own party. Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, has admitted he was paid to make statements in favor of Russia.

The sentence came at the end of a damaging week for Farage; The Guardian stated that Farage disclosed accusations that he made racist chants and comments while at school more than 40 years ago, but Farage denied this.

Reform remains ahead by around 10 points in UK opinion polls, but Labor believes the party is vulnerable to criticism that Farage and his allies are too pro-Russian; The Gill case proves that a paid pro-Kremlin propagandist was allowed to become a senior leader.

Police believe Gill received the equivalent of at least £30,000 and could have received more from former Ukrainian MP and alleged Russian asset Oleg Voloshyn. The offenses occurred when Gill was a member of the European Parliament in 2018-19, elected as one of the Ukip group led by Nigel Farage, and later joined the Brexit party.

Voloshin is still under investigation and wanted for treason in Ukraine, but is believed to be in Moscow.

The political repercussions of the case widened further on Friday when it emerged that Gill had been paid to enable other Brexit party and former Ukip MPs to unwittingly make pro-Russian statements.

Gill’s comments to the European Parliament and on 112 Ukraine, a pro-Russian television channel, were designed to benefit the Kremlin’s narrative about Ukraine ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.

A sentencing memorandum from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Gill and four other MPs who were at Ukip intervened after they were promised bribes from Voloshyn to arrange for them to give evidence. These include Steven Woolfe, William Dartmouth, Jonathan Arnott and Jonathan Bullock.

Fifth, David Coburn, who is on Ukip and was at one time leader of the party in Scotland, was also mentioned in WhatsApp messages between Voloshyn and Gill. Investigators did not find that any of them took the money themselves.

Voloshyn repeatedly drew praise for Gill’s work from Viktor Medvedchuk, a staunch ally and friend of Putin who has been linked to 112 pro-Russian Ukrainian channels for decades. At one point, after Gill’s fellow Eurosceptic British MPs appeared on the channel, Voloshyn messaged Gill on WhatsApp, saying: “V wanted to convey his gratitude to you. He literally said it was ‘amazing’. He even bragged about those MEP comments he made to his friend you know where, and that person was impressed.”

Farage said Gill was a single “bad apple” after Gill pleaded guilty to eight bribery charges. On the day of the sentencing, Reform UK said Gill’s actions were “reprehensible, treacherous and inexcusable” and the party was “delighted that justice has been served”.

But Labor called on Farage to “leave no stone unturned” as he reviews “every inch” of Reform UK’s party structures, members, party donors and representatives to ensure pro-Russian links are rooted out.

Starmer told the BBC: “I think it raises a very important question, because this is a long prison sentence for pro-Russian bribes, and I think it requires Nigel Farage to investigate how this happened within his own party and, equally importantly, what other connections there are between his party and Russia.

“He should launch an investigation, an investigation into his own party. How did this happen on his watch, in his own party, and what other connections are there between his party and Russia?”

Farage hit back, trying to put the story on Labor, saying: “The Prime Minister urgently needs to investigate links within the Labor Party to the Chinese Communist Party. Spies have been found to be donating to Labor MPs, and a recent spy case has mysteriously collapsed. Perhaps he needs to look closer to home.”

The Conservatives said Farage should “make clear his relationship with Gill and make clear whether others in his party were involved” while the Liberal Democrats launched new political attack ads showing the UK Reform leader in Vladimir Putin’s pocket.

Investigators were surprised by Gill’s September confession and said he offered no explanation for his motivation but believed it was largely motivated by financial need.

Sentencing Gill at the Old Bailey in London, Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb said he had betrayed the public’s trust in him. “When you say something that someone has paid you to say, you are not speaking sincerely. If it were your true opinion, you wouldn’t need to be paid for saying it,” he said.

Before the verdict was handed down at the Old Bailey, Gill was criticized by Ukrainians and British unionists asking: “What about Farage?” He was welcomed by chanting slogans.

Police did not interview Farage, unlike some of his former colleagues and aides who voluntarily assisted authorities. Arnott confirmed to the Guardian that police had interviewed him, while another Brexit Party MP, Alex Phillips, said he voluntarily went to speak to police when he learned of the investigation into Gill. The CPS memo states that Gill promised his handler, Voloshyn, that he would “get Alex.” [Phillips]”to talk.

The CPS also released selected WhatsApp messages between Voloshyn and Gill containing references to Arnott and Coburn.

Both visited Ukraine with Gill in October 2018 and made statements about 112 pro-Russian Ukraine. Weeks later, they made the remarks during a debate on Ukraine in the European Parliament after Gill’s speech.

Arnott has denied any suggestion that he had links to Russia or was acting in Russia’s interests. An attempt was made to contact Coburn.

The judge said Gill commissioned MPs representing the north-east, north-west and south-west of England to give interviews to 112 Ukrainians, for which he received €5,000 (£4,400).

Noting that Voloshyn had described Gill’s work as “extraordinary”, the judge said: “I must make it clear that the case was not presented on the basis that these people knew how you behaved, that is, you were promised a total of €5,000.”

WhatsApp messages between Gill and Voloshyn were recovered after the British politician was stopped at Manchester airport in September 2021. According to police, Gill said he was going to Russia to serve as an observer in the Duma elections.

Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command, told reporters the messages initially used coded language – talk of “christmas presents” and “gifts” – but it was clear that Gill’s co-operation had eventually become a “regular habit”, with Voloshyn making comments such as “I’ll give you 5k”.

Footage of Gill being questioned by police and in which he repeatedly answered “no comment” was released by the Met. Police also seized €5,000 in cash and thousands of dollars from Gill’s home, but said they did not know what he did with the full amount of bribes he received.

In an emailed response to the Guardian following Gill’s sentencing, Voloshyn said he was “stunned” to hear the verdict. He said he found this “completely unfair” as he said neither he nor Gill were involved in any conspiracy against UK legislation and security.