Robert Jenrick has said it is \u201clegitimate\u201d for the media to ask questions about Nigel Farage\u2019s \u00a35m personal donation from a cryptocurrency billionaire, just days after the Reform UK leader told an interviewer it was \u201cnone of your business\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jenrick, who is Reform\u2019s shadow chancellor, said voters on the doorstep were not asking about the money given to Farage by the Thailand-based British crypto investor<\/a> Christopher Harborne.<\/p>\n However, he acknowledged it was not unreasonable for the media to have questions about the \u00a35m, in contrast to Farage\u2019s claim earlier this week that it was a private matter.<\/p>\n At the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference, asked by the host, Sophy Ridge, a Sky News presenter, whether Farage was right to say people did not care about it, Jenrick replied: \u201cI\u2019ve knocked on a lot of doors, trust me, in the course of the May local elections, the byelection, and in my own constituency, and I have to say, in all sincerity, not a single person has raised that question with me.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s not a legitimate question for the media to ask, but it is not one that, in my experience, is on the tip of the tongue of people across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cBut let me answer the question head on. If you ask about influence, there is no donor influencing Reform\u2019s agenda. If you are saying Reform should have a policy on crypto, we should do, it is a significant growth opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cNigel was given this gift before he was a member of parliament and it is the case that some people in politics face a very severe security threat, and it is right he should be able to protect himself.\u201d<\/p>\n Nigel Farage is being investigated by the parliamentary standards commissioner over \u00a35m donation from Harborne. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt\/PA<\/p>\n Farage became tetchy on Tuesday when asked about the donation, which is now being investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards and was first revealed by the Guardian in April.<\/p>\n He initially said the money was for security purposes before later saying it was a reward for Brexit. This week he claimed it had not been spent at all but he could buy Ferraris or gamble it on horses<\/a> if he wanted.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour<\/a> party, said she had asked the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate whether Farage\u2019s public pronouncements about cryptocurrencies may have been intended to benefit Harborne.<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s uncomfortable interviews on the subject coincide with the party slipping slightly in the polls while Labour has gained since Keir Starmer announced his resignation<\/a>, with Andy Burnham his most probable successor as prime minister.<\/p>\n