Questions over Nigel Farage's £5m gift - Victoria Derbyshire runs through the timeline

0:00 Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage said today he

0:03 didn't have to declare that 5 million quid given

0:05 to him by Thailand-based cryptobillionaire Christopher Harbornne because it

0:09 was a private gift to fund his personal security.

0:13 It was given to him in 2024 before Mr.

0:15 Farage became an MP.

0:17 I've been the most attacked physically politician of modern times.

0:23 And yet, despite repeated requests to the Home Office,

0:28 the police for protection and help, I've been denied at every twist and turn.

0:34 This is money is the only way I can look

0:36 after myself and protect myself for the rest of my life.

0:38 The rules are clear though, aren't they?

0:39 They The rules are very, very clear.

0:41 The rules are very, very clear.

0:43 And believe you me, we've looked at this from every legal angle.

0:46 There is no obligation to declare something

0:49 that is an unconditional non-political personal gift

0:53 and it will ensure I can be safe for the rest of my life.

0:57 The timing of the gift is worth noting.

1:00 Go back a couple of years.

1:02 You may remember Rishi Sunnak calling a general

1:04 election standing in the rain in Downing Street.

1:07 The next day, the honorary president of Reform UK, that's what he was then.

1:12 Nigel Farage said this.

1:14 There he was, panicked in the rain, illprepared,

1:17 calling an early general election which shocked and surprised all of us.

1:21 He did it, of course, because no flights were going to Rwanda.

1:24 He did it, of course, because he feared that I'd be back in the front line.

1:27 Now, he may be relieved to know that I'm

1:29 not going to stand as a candidate myself.

1:31 Why?

1:31 6 weeks isn't long enough to fight

1:33 a constituency seat and to campaign around the country.

1:38 Just 10 days later, Nigel Farage U-turned.

1:42 I can't let down those millions of people.

1:44 I simply can't do it.

1:46 It'll be wrong.

1:47 So, I have decided I've changed my mind.

1:53 It's allowed.

1:53 You know, it's not always a sign of weakness.

1:57 It could potentially be a sign of strength.

2:01 Soon after Mr.

2:02 Farage was elected MP for Clactton.

2:06 Now, the Guardian reported last week that Christopher Harbaugh had given Mr.

2:09 Farage the 5 million in 2024 shortly before

2:13 he declared he was running in that election.

2:16 That gift was separate from the 12 million Mr.

2:19 Harborn donated to reform last year.

2:22 The billionaire has also previously donated

2:24 to the Brexit party and to Boris Johnson.

2:27 Now Labour and the Conservatives say that Mr.

2:29 Far should have declared the money on his parliamentary

2:32 register of interests as soon as he became an MP.

2:35 The reform leader disputes that.

2:37 As you heard earlier, the Commons Code of Conduct states that new

2:40 MPs must register all their current financial interests

2:45 and any registerable benefits received in the 12 months

2:49 before their election within one month of their election.

2:54 Mr.

2:54 Farage says the crypto billionaire wants

2:57 absolutely nothing in return for his money.

3:00 It is true that Reform UK have crypto friendly policies and Mr.

3:04 Farage has personally invested in a crypto firm

3:07 run by Liz Truss's former chancellor Quasi Cuang.

3:10 Here's Nigel Farage speaking at a crypto conference in Vegas last year.

3:14 And what I want to do when we win

3:17 the next election is bring us into the 21st century.

3:22 We are going to launch in Britain a crypto revolution.

3:27 We're going to make London one of the major trading centers of the world.

3:31 We're deadly serious.

3:32 And here it is.

3:34 As part of that revolution,

3:35 Reform UK say they would cut capital gains tax on crypto trades,

3:40 but not other trades from 24% to 10%.

3:44 Reform is the only major UK party known to have accepted donations in crypto.

3:50 In March this year, the government accepted

3:51 the recommendations of the Richoft Review and pause crypto

3:55 donations to political parties as well as introducing

3:58 a cap on the amount foreignbased Brits could donate.

4:02 As you'd expect, we asked Reform for an interview tonight.

4:05 One reform press officer asked with who and to discuss what.

4:09 We said, "We'd like to talk about the local elections,

4:11 the detention centers in green areas,

4:13 and the Harbborne gift." We didn't receive another reply.

4:16 And from the reform head of communications, we had no response at all.

4:20 Let's introduce your panel this evening.

4:22 Pollster Luke Trill, director of More in Common,

4:25 associate editor of the Daily Telegraph, Camila Tomminy.

4:28 Labour Pier Thanam Deonire and Nick, our political editor, Luke Trill,

4:34 the parliamentary standards commissioner will be the one that rules

4:37 on whether Nigel Farage has broken any rules or not.

4:40 What I want to know from you is does this 5

4:42 million five million have any effect on potential reform voters this week?

4:49 Well, look, there will be some true believers who take Nigel Farage

4:52 at his uh word that this was an important matter of personal security.

4:56 There'll be another group who say, well,

4:58 you know, this is just what all politicians do.

5:00 But I think where this is damaging is with that wavering group of reform voters,

5:04 that group that gets reform from, say,

5:06 20% up to 30% enables them to win a general election.

5:11 You'll get people saying, "We've already started to hear it in focus groups.

5:14 I thought he was different.

5:15 I thought he was going to come in and sort of, you know,

5:17 be better than all of these other politicians.

5:19 And yet it just looks like more of the same.

5:22 We want change.

5:24 We want something different.

5:25 And and interestingly, I had someone saying to me this week,

5:28 he's starting to seem like more

5:29 of the establishment rather than something genuinely different.

5:32 So, I do think that this matters a lot

5:34 and could deter um those wavering reform voters.

5:38 Camila Tommin, what what do you think is cutting through?

5:40 Is it the amount of money?

5:41 Is it this very serious and important issue of personal security

5:45 for politicians or is it as as Luke Trill was saying,

5:48 you know, maybe he's like all the other politicians.

5:52 I think that there is sympathy with the idea that he

5:54 is at risk and we have seen attempted attacks on him,

5:57 milkshakes, incendary devices through the letter box and all the rest of it.

6:01 And I think that the public is cognizant of the fact that MPs are

6:04 at greater risk than they've ever been following

6:06 the murders of David Amos and Joe Cox.

6:09 That being said, I agree with Luke on the sort of perception

6:12 of it appearing as if he is just one of the rest of them,

6:16 which is problematic for him as a man of the people politician.

6:20 The other thing I think it lends some credibility to is

6:24 this fear that there is a lack of professionalism around reform.

6:28 This idea that they like him, people who hate him hate him,

6:30 but people who like him really, really like him.

6:32 They want to have a pint with him.

6:33 They think that they he represents their interests.

6:36 He has that Boris factor in being able to reach parts that others can't.

6:40 But I think the reservation is always but can

6:42 they actually run things and if he can't

6:45 get his own sort of accounting and order

6:47 that's going to pose wider questions about the party.

6:50 Fangham Devonire if you take Nigel Farage at his word

6:54 then this money is for his personal security.

6:56 Is there really any issue?

6:58 Well, Nigel Farage said there in your clip,

7:00 he wants or I think it was in your quote

7:02 was he doesn't want anything in return this donor.

7:04 But that's for the public to judge and if it hadn't been for this investigation,

7:08 we wouldn't know about it and he should have declared it.

7:10 The forms are very clear when you first become an MP.

7:13 You fill in the lot and you also

7:15 fill in everything and it's for the parliamentary

7:17 standards commissioner to decide if it wasn't

7:19 necessary and then not to publish it.

7:21 I think that it's it's important that every politician sticks to the rules.

7:27 When other politicians have broken any of those rules

7:29 in the last few years or so, they rightly get held to account.

7:32 We should all be held to account.

7:34 Those rules are there for a reason.

7:36 It's not just to stop corruption.

7:38 It's to be able to it's so the public can judge for themselves.

7:42 Stopping corruption really matters.

7:43 Democracy really matters.

7:45 It's under attack from so many sides at the moment.

7:47 And I want every voter,

7:49 no matter who they're voting for, obviously I'd like them to vote Labor,

7:52 but I think every voter should be able to look

7:54 and scrutinize for themselves at who has given money to which politician,

7:58 and then they can judge for themselves.

8:00 And they can now, of course.