Since news surfaced that Nigel Farage received a gift of 5 million pounds from a cryptocurrency billionaire, the leader of Britain’s populist right-wing Reform U.K. party has argued that the money was for his personal security.
On Thursday he offered another explanation, saying that it was “a reward for campaigning for Brexit.”
His comments, made in a video interview with the British outlet The Sun, came as the British Parliament’s standards watchdog confirmed that Mr. Farage was under investigation for not declaring receipt of the £5 million (about $6.7 million), which came from Christopher Harborne, a Briton who lives in Thailand.
Mr. Farage argues that the gift was unconditional, was made before he won a seat in the general election in 2024, and that there was no requirement to declare it.
Critics say that under parliamentary rules the money should have been registered after the election, and the main opposition Conservative Party referred the case to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
Reform U.K. has led in the opinion polls since early last year and won more than 1,400 seats on municipal councils across England in elections last week. That performance has prompted calls for the resignation of Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, and speculation that Mr. Farage might himself enter Downing Street after the next general election, which must take place by 2029 but could come earlier.
But Reform U.K.’s success has brought closer scrutiny and criticism that Mr. Farage, who cultivates the image of a political outsider, depends on wealthy donors.
Last year, Mr. Harborne, the cryptocurrency billionaire who gave Mr. Farage the gift, also gave a donation of £9 million to Reform U.K., the largest single donation to a British political party by a living person. Critics of Mr. Farage have pointed out that since he entered Parliament, he has championed the cryptocurrency industry and pushed for light-touch regulation.
Asked last month about his gift to Mr. Farage, Mr. Harborne told The Telegraph that he “wasn’t expecting anything in return apart from ensuring his safety,” adding, “I gave him the money because of my great admiration for the decades of work he had done to achieve Brexit.”
In The Sun interview, Mr. Farage said he was “not in the least bit concerned” about the parliamentary inquiry.
“This was given to me on an unconditional basis — completely unconditional basis — but frankly, it was given as a reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years,” he said. Mr. Farage led two parties before Reform U.K., both of which opposed Britain’s membership in the European Union. He was also a prominent campaigner in the 2016 referendum in which a narrow majority of Britons voted to leave the bloc.
Last month, Mr. Farage told broadcasters that the gift was to pay for a lifetime of personal security. “I’ve been the most attacked, physically, politician of modern times,” he said.
Reform U.K. said in a statement that Mr. Farage’s new comments did not contradict his earlier ones because “both can be true at the same time.” The gift was “a reward after the years of danger he’s put himself in and is still in now,” it added.
Responding to a separate report by Sky News that Mr. Farage bought a £1.4 million property in cash shortly after receiving the £5 million gift, the party said that “the offer and purchase process for the property commenced before the gift,” adding that as part of that process, he had already demonstrated he had the funds.
Anna Turley, the chairwoman of the governing Labour Party, said in a statement that Mr. Farage had “repeatedly dodged questions on his multimillion-pound ‘gift,’” adding, “Now we can see why — this totally stinks.” She called on Mr. Farage to “come clean with the public as to what this £5 million was used for and why he failed to declare it.”
Ahead of the 2024 general election, Mr. Farage initially said he did not intend to run for a seat but changed his mind about a month before the vote. The Guardian, which first reported the £5 million gift, said the money was received “shortly before” Mr. Farage announced he would run.
Asked in his interview with The Sun whether the gift played any role in his change of heart, Mr. Farage rejected the idea.
“I can’t be bought by anybody,” he said citing his public falling out with Elon Musk, the technology billionaire. “He wanted to give us a load of money if I said certain things publicly and I refused,” Mr. Farage said referring to Mr. Musk without elaborating.
Stephen Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain, its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe.
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