Nigel Farage quickly shut down a question about the £5m ‘gift’ he received from a crypto billionaire in 2024.
On Friday morning, Farage was speaking in the east London borough of Havering, where Reform won control of the council.
This is the first London council Reform have taken control of, and Farage was in a predictably buoyant mood.
He claimed the results coming through across England on Friday morning show a “truly historic shift” in British politics.
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However, he was far less keen to address any questions about the £5m sum he was given by crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in 2024 and decided not to declare.
When one reporter tried to ask him about the money, over which a number of questions remain, Farage quickly shut him down.
The reporter told Farage: “You talked about difficult questions of funding for local councils, you’ve had some difficult questions about your own funding…”
Before he could finish though, Farage dismissively said “Yeah, yeah, well we’ll talk about that any other time you like,” and moved on to another question.
This is just the latest example of Farage and Reform refusing to face any questions or scrutiny over the money, which he received shortly before announcing his decision to stand as an MP in the 2024 general election.
Farage didn’t declare this £5m, which he claims was handed to him by Harborne so he could fund his own private security.
The Electoral Commission is looking into a complaint from the Conservative Party about the sum.
Parliamentary rules state that any benefits within 12 months before taking office should be declared, depending on whether they are for political or personal purposes. The rules make clear that if there “is any doubt, the benefit should be registered.”
Farage has maintained that he did not need to declare the money because it was “purely private” and “wasn’t political in any sense at all”.
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Aside from the issue of Farage not declaring the money, there are questions about the timing of the gift and whether it influenced Farage’s U-turn decision to run as an MP in the 2024 election.
Some are also wondering if the gift from Harborne ended up influencing Farage and Reform’s subsequent pro-crypto stance and investments.
And there are also concerns over whether a billionaire in Thailand giving Farage and Reform a total of £17m amounts to interference in British democracy.