{"id":557401,"date":"2026-04-29T19:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557401\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T19:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:26:09","slug":"nigel-farage-referred-to-standards-watchdog-over-undisclosed-5m-gift-nigel-farage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557401\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Farage referred to standards watchdog over undisclosed \u00a35m gift | Nigel Farage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigel Farage has been referred to parliament\u2019s standards watchdog after the Guardian revealed<\/a> he received an undeclared \u00a35m gift from a party donor.<\/p>\n

The referral was made by the Conservative party, citing rules that require MPs to declare any \u201cpersonal benefit\u201d they have received in the 12 months before taking office, and to do so within a month of being elected.<\/p>\n

The gift from the Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne fell within that period. Some personal gifts are exempt from the reporting rules if they \u201ccould not reasonably be thought by others to be related to membership of the house or to the member\u2019s parliamentary or political activities\u201d, according to the code of conduct and rules<\/a> for MPs.<\/p>\n

The rules add: \u201cBoth the possible motive of the giver and the use to which the gift is to be put should be considered. If there is any doubt, the benefit should be registered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Harborne in 2022. Lawyers acting for him did not offer a comment. Photograph: George Cracknell Wright\/LNP<\/p>\n

Farage had stated he did not intend to stand as a prospective MP but U-turned in June 2024, within weeks of receiving the personal gift from Harborne. A spokesperson for Reform said the gift and Farage\u2019s decision to stand as an MP were \u201centirely unrelated\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Reform UK leader said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, after he was approached by the Guardian for comment on its exclusive story<\/a>, that the gift was made because \u201cChristopher is an ardent supporter who is deeply concerned for my safety\u201d.<\/p>\n

Farage has also received taxpayer-funded security since becoming an MP, but it was reported that this was reduced last year. A spokesperson for Reform UK<\/a> said: \u201cHe does not receive any state-funded security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory party chair, said Farage had been \u201cobliged\u201d to declare the gift. He said: \u201cThe Conservatives are today referring Nigel Farage<\/a> to the parliamentary standards commissioner. This \u00a35m from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne raises serious questions. What is Nigel Farage hiding? And why does Reform think the rules don\u2019t apply to them? This stinks and Reform should come clean now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Labour party said it appeared that Farage had broken the rules by failing to declare the gift. \u201cIt\u2019s just the latest alarming example of Farage and his MPs believing there is one rule for them and another for everyone else,\u201d said Anna Turley, the Labour party chair.<\/p>\n

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats\u2019 deputy leader, said: \u201cIt looks like Farage has been bought out \u2026 but he\u2019s deluded if he thinks the British people will stand for this. Farage must come clean on whether he promised anything to Harborne in exchange for this eye-watering amount of money. There must also be a proper investigation into the Reform leader\u2019s links to crypto to see if his actions amount to market abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s Phil Brickell, the chair of the all-parliamentary group on anti-corruption, said: \u201cThis goes to the heart of trust, transparency and integrity in public life. The standards system only works if it\u2019s enforced. The standards commissioner must investigate \u2013 urgently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyers acting for Harborne did not offer a comment when previously asked by the Guardian about the gift.<\/p>\n

A Reform UK spokesperson said it did not need to be declared because it was a \u201cpersonal unconditional gift\u201d. They added: \u201cWe have complied with all relevant rules and regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nigel Farage has been referred to parliament\u2019s standards watchdog after the Guardian revealed he received an undeclared \u00a35m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-557401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}