Nigel Farage should face a standards probe after failing to declare a £5 million donation from a crypto billionaire, critics have demanded. The Reform leader has come under fire after it emerged he had been given the sum by Thailand-based tycoon Christopher Harborne shortly before becoming an MP. Parliamentary rules state that new MPs have to declare donations and gifts in the year before they enter Parliament.
Mr Farage has claimed the seven-figure sum was given to him to pay for his security. Mr Harborne made the donation before he announced he was standing in Clacton, The Guardian reports. Before the newspaper published the claim, Mr Farage gave an interview with The Telegraph saying his home had been firebombed. He claimed the billionaire's cash was being used to protect him, alleging the Home Office had turned down his requests for security.
Political Reactions
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake responded: "As a new Member of Parliament, Mr Farage was obliged to report to the House of Commons all political donations and political gifts he had received during the previous 12 months. The Conservatives are today referring Nigel Farage to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. This £5 million from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne raises serious questions. What is Nigel Farage hiding? And why does Reform think the rules don’t apply to them? This stinks and Reform should come clean now."
Labour's Anna Turley said: "Nigel Farage appears to have broken the rules again by failing to declare this cash from his billionaire backer. It’s simply not good enough for Reform to gloss over these egregious acts and further erode public trust in politics. It’s just the latest alarming example of Farage and his MPs believing there is one rule for them and another for everyone else."
Background on the Donor
Mr Harborne, who also goes by the name Chakrit Sakunkrit in Thailand, has donated £22 million to Mr Farage's party since 2019, as well as £1.6 million to the Tories. At the time of the donation to Mr Farage in 2024, he had said he had no intention of standing to be an MP. The £5 million donation does not appear in the members' register of interests. But Reform claims it is confident rules have been followed.
Mr Farage told The Telegraph: "This money was given to me so that I would be safe and secure for the rest of my life. I have tried and failed in the past to get security funded by the Home Office and I don’t think the state will ever help me. I’m very much on my own and will be for the rest of my life, and I have to face up to that grim reality. Christopher is an ardent supporter who is deeply concerned for my safety. I would rather not be discussing any of this but I am having to because someone has got hold of material about my private finances, which is outrageous, and which I believe was illegally obtained."
He said his home had been firebombed early last year and said he regularly faces threats to his safety. Mr Farage, who had milkshakes and a rock thrown at him during the General Election campaign in 2024, said he has also previously had to write off a car after protestors attacked it.
Calls for Donation Caps
It comes amid calls to cut the amount political donors are allowed to give. Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director of think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), said: "It’s becoming harder to ignore the growing weight that extremely wealthy donors appear to carry in British politics, not just in scale, but in proximity to key political decisions. Reports that Christopher Harborne provided Nigel Farage with £5 million shortly before his change of stance on standing as an MP will inevitably prompt questions about influence, perception, and the standards we expect in public life. Seven-figure sums entering politics were once exceptional, now they are commonplace. The government must act urgently, capping individual donations at £100,000, to protect the sanctity of our politics."
A Reform spokesman said: "This was a personal unconditional gift that was given before he was elected. We are confident everything has been declared in accordance with the rules."
The MPs' code of conduct insists that donations in the year before entering the Commons should be declared. It states: "New Members must register all their current financial interests, and any registrable benefits (other than earnings) received in the 12 months before their election within one month of their election, and Members must register any change in those registrable interests within 28 days."
