Within a year of receiving £5mn from a crypto billionaire, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK published a draft crypto bill
[which has since been withdrawn (unpublished) form Reform’s website]
The previously undisclosed £5mn ‘gift’ that Nigel Farage received from the British-born, Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne in mid-2024, shortly before reversing his decision not to stand as an MP in the coming general election, has certainly raised a few questions. Farage claims he was under no obligation to declare it since he wasn’t an MP at the time and, anyway, it was simply a no-strings-attached gift.
I’m sure we are all very pleased for him. Parliamentary authorities, however, are sceptical and have launched an investigation. Farage may eventually face a recall petition and a by-election if the standards commissioner hands out a lengthy suspension.
Not being a details man, he probably didn’t realise the rules require new members, within one month of their election, to declare “any registrable benefits (other than earnings) received in the 12 months before their election”. Personal gifts can be ignored, but only if they are from family members and even then, “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”.
Registrable means anything that “might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her actions, speeches or votes in Parliament, or actions taken in his or her capacity as a Member of Parliament”.
The money is reported to have been accompanied by a legal document declaring it to be “unconditional and irrevocable”. The Reform UK leader also suggested it was for his personal security, saying: “This money is the only way I can look after myself, and protect myself for the rest of my life”. That explanation barely survived the week with Farage later telling The Sun instead that it was “a reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years”.
Was the £5mn really just a gift?
Some, including Farage’s former colleague Ben Habib, suggest the purpose of the £5mn was to persuade Farage to stand as MP for Clacton. Farage formally announced on 23 May 2024 that he would not be a candidate in the general election that PM Rishi Sunak had announced the previous day. By 3 June, Farage had changed his mind. He would stand after all, and he was elected on 5 July with a 45% swing, the largest for any seat at a UK general election.
Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Nigel Farage initially claimed he was given the money to cover security costs. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
Request follows claims actors linked to Moscow accessed Reform UK leader’s data and leaked information over £5m donation
Labour has reported the alleged hacking of Nigel Farage’s phone to police and government cybersecurity officials after the Reform UK leader failed to do so himself.
The Labour chair, Anna Turley, has asked the Metropolitan police and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to investigate Farage’s claims that his phone was compromised by hostile actors linked to Russia.
Reform has suggested the Guardian’s revelation that Farage was given a £5m donation from the Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne originated from material leaked from his phone, email and bank accounts. The party said last weekend it believed his information had been obtained by “hostile actors, almost certainly linked to Moscow”.
Reform said it had reported the matter to “the relevant authorities”, without specifying which ones. Labour challenged the party to refer the case to the NCSC, but it is understood that had not happened by Thursday afternoon.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage campaigning in Wales. Credit: Reform UK / YouTube
Welsh Reform labelled a “retirement home for failed Conservatives”.
The majority of Reform UK’s shadow cabinet in Wales is made up of former Conservative Party politicians, including its leader, chief whip, and shadow economy minister, DeSmog can reveal.
Nigel Farage’s radical right-wing party – which campaigns against climate policies and supports dramatically increased fossil fuel production – became the second largest group in the Senedd following elections on 7 May.
Reform has presented itself as an outsider force and an alternative to the established parties.
However, DeSmog’s analysis finds that almost two thirds (64.2 percent) of Reform’s shadow cabinet posts in Wales are held by individuals who have previously served or stood for the Tories.
That amounts to nine out of Reform’s 14 shadow cabinet members, and includes Reform’s leader in Wales, Dan Thomas, who was Conservative leader of Barnet Council in London before defecting to Farage’s party in June last year.
It also includes the party’s chief whip, Llŷr Powell, a former Tory council candidate, and shadow economy minister Jason O’Connell, a former Tory councillor.
In total, 12 of Reform’s 34 Senedd members are former Conservative politicians – amounting to 35 percent of the party’s representation in the assembly.
A spokesperson for the Wales Green Party said: “In the election campaign, Reform presented themselves as an insurgent anti-establishment party, but it’s looking more like they’re just a retirement home for failed Conservatives.”
Reform’s central party is also replete with ex-Tories. Six of Reform’s eight members of UK Parliament defected from the Conservatives, five while they were serving MPs. This includes Robert Jenrick, a former Tory minister and Reform’s current economic spokesperson, and former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman, both of whom defected in January.
Of the remaining two – Farage and his deputy Richard Tice – the latter is a former Tory party member and donor.
In Scotland, at least four of Reform’s members of the Scottish Parliament are former Tory politicians, including Max Bannerman in the Highlands and Islands, Thomas Kerr and Kim Schmulian in Glasgow, and Graham Simpson in Central Scot and Lothians West.
Reform’s biggest donor, Thailand-based crypto and jet fuel billionaire Christopher Harborne, was previously a donor to the Conservative Party, giving £1.5 million between 2018 and 2022.
Harborne has donated £22 million to Reform, and gave Farage a £5 million gift in 2024 prior to him reclaiming the Reform leadership and standing for Parliament. Farage did not declare this sum when he was elected as an MP, and it is now the subject of a parliamentary standards investigation.
The Roster
Llŷr Powell, Reform’s chief whip and business manager in Wales, was a Conservative Party candidate for local government in 2022, and supportedKemi Badenoch for Tory leader the same year.
Powell, who was Reform’s unsuccessful candidate in the October 2025 Caerphilly Senedd by-election, used to work for Nathan Gill, the party’s former Welsh leader. Gill is currently serving a 10 and a half year prison sentence for accepting bribes from an agent of the Russian government during his time as a Member of European Parliament (MEP) for the Brexit Party (Reform’s forerunner).
Powell has said he didn’t work for Gill when he committed these offences, and had no knowledge of his crimes, but has refused to say the exact dates when he served under Farage’s former MEP.
James Evans, Reform’s shadow minister for health, prevention and sport, was elected as the Senedd member for Brecon and Radnorshire in 2021 as a Conservative. Before that, he served in Welsh local government as a Tory.
Laura Anne Jones, Reform’s shadow minister for food, farming and rural affairs, was previously a Conservative Senedd member for South Wales East.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Welsh leader Dan Thomas campaigning in Wales.
Credit: Reform UK / YouTube
Sarah Cooper-Lesadd, the party’s shadow minister for children, young people and skills, was a Conservative candidate for Coventry East in the 2024 general election. From 2022 to 2024 she was also a parliamentary assistant to Vicky Ford, Tory MP for Chelmsford.
Louise Emery, Reform’s shadow minister for culture, tourism and hospitality, was elected in 2017 and 2022 as a Conservative councillor in Conwy.
Francesca O’Brien, shadow minister for local government, housing and planning, was a Tory councillor for the Mumbles elected in 2017.
Adrian Mason, Reform’s shadow Counsel General and shadow minister for the constitution, was a Tory council candidate in Wales in 2017.
Jason O’Connell, shadow minister for economy and transport, was briefly a Welsh Conservative councillor in 2018, having been elected as an independent.
Outside of the shadow cabinet, Reform Welsh Senedd members Iain McIntosh and Tom Montgomery were elected to local government in Wales as Conservatives in 2022, while Stephen Senior stood as a Tory in 2022 and 2023.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
Nigel Farage has claimed that ‘foreign state actors’, most likely serving Moscow, accessed his phone. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images
Anna Turley gives Reform leader 24 hours to report Russian hacking claim in ‘public and national interest’
The Labour chair has given Nigel Farage 24 hours to report to security services the claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors or the party will do it for him.
In a letter to the Reform UK leader, Anna Turley said it was “in the public and national interest” to ensure that a suspected overseas hack of a senior politician’s phone by a hostile state was properly investigated.
A Reform spokesperson said the incident had been reported to “the relevant authorities”, without saying who these were.
In her letter, Turley asked Farage, who has largely avoided media scrutiny in recent weeks, to set out why Harborne gave him the money, in the run-up to the 2024 general election. Farage initially said the sum was intended to pay for his security, but later characterised it as a reward for his campaigning on Brexit.
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On Monday, Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, called Farage’s version of events “an entirely unsubstantiated claim and one without any merit”, saying it would be difficult to conclude the involvement of Russia based on the examination of a phone.
Martin said given the seriousness of the matter, Farage should formally report what happened to the authorities.
Nigel Farage claims the Guardian’s revelation of the donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne was the result off a Russian ‘hack-and-leak’ operation. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Reuters
Ciaran Martin says Reform UK leader’s allegation over Guardian report on £5m gift ‘entirely unsubstantiated’
Nigel Farage’s claim that a Russian hack was behind a Guardian report on the £5m gift he received from a crypto billionaire has been described as “without any merit” by a former head of the National Cyber Security Centre.
Ciaran Martin, founding chief executive of the agency, which is part of GCHQ, said Farage’s allegation, if true, would have major implications for UK policy towards Russia but that the Reform UK leader had yet to provide “a shred of evidence”.
It is understood that Farage is yet to ask the NCSC to investigate his apparent belief that the Guardian’s revelation of the multimillion-pound donation by crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne was the result of a Russian “hack-and-leak” operation.
Martin said such an operation by the Kremlin would amount to an “unprecedentedly aggressive intervention” into Britain’s democracy and that Farage should both contact the NCSC to investigate and make public the technical evidence he has for his claim.
Martin said: “An aspiring prime minister has essentially claimed that Russia has launched an unprecedentedly aggressive intervention – a malicious intervention – in British politics, and he’s not produced a shred of evidence to support that claim.
“He’s made a serious foreign policy and national security allegation which if true would have massive implications for British policy towards Russia.
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A spokesperson for the Guardian described Farage’s claim as “an attempt to deflect attention from legitimate scrutiny of his financial affairs”. They added: “Nigel Farage is once again hiding behind a baseless attack on the media rather than facing up to scrutiny from journalists and politicians.”
Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.Led by Donkeys poster quotes Nigel Farage “Brexit has failed”
