Nigel Farage Received £5m Personal Security Gift in 2024

Nigel Farage received a £5 million gift in 2024 from Christopher Harborne for his personal security, a disclosure first reported by The Guardian that prompted the Conservatives to refer the MP for Clacton to the standards commissioner. House of Commons rules require new MPs to register any benefits received in the 12 months prior to their election.

Reform UK said it was confident everything has been declared in accordance with the rules.

The party provided no evidence that the disclosure was the result of illegal activity and stated it was exploring its legal options. Farage, 62, claimed a serious computer-hacking case was behind the disclosure and said it was part of an operation against him. He previously told LBC of illegally obtained information.

Asked about greater transparency around his finances, Farage said his computer had been hacked during the campaign and that the whole thing is an operation. A senior Reform source said the story was a proper Westminster bubble story and that voters knew about it when they went to the polls.

A Guardian source said Mr Farage should be answering the questions raised by legitimate, public interest journalism, rather than attacking the media with baseless claims.

Farage celebrated sweeping election gains of more than 1,400 councillors last week and touted a historic shift in British politics. Reform UK triumphed in former Conservative strongholds including Suffolk and Essex. It took control of Labour councils such as Sunderland and Havering, its first London borough.

Reform UK came second in the Welsh parliament elections and tied for second with Labour in Scotland. Speaking to The Sunday Times from the Chelmsford racecourse before his victory rally on Friday night, Farage said Labour had been crushed in their heartlands and the Tories destroyed completely in Essex, which includes Kemi Badenoch’s constituency of North West Essex.

Farage said nobody else in modern politics has to live with the constant level of threat that he does.

He added that the £5 million was given to him as an unconditional gift but his intention is to make sure that he is safe until he dies. He said he was very unhappy about the story and would give the lawyers a ring now. Farage also welcomed the forthcoming debate on Britain seeking a closer relationship with the EU.

The prime minister is expected to tout Labour’s embrace of the EU bloc in a speech on Monday. Farage said he was very, very excited about the debate. He said Britain would link itself up with a group of economies in many cases of even bigger basket cases than we are and called it absolute insanity.

Farage committed himself to fighting every blimmin’ one of them and abandoning the whole lot when we are in government.