Jess Phillips rinsed Richard Tice as the Reform man tried to defend Nigel Farage’s secret £5m gift from a crypto billionaire.
It’s the story that just won’t go away for Reform and Farage – and rightly so. If any other party leader in the country had secretly been given £5m by a Thailand-based crypto billionaire, the turquoise right-wingers would be up in arms.
So, it’s only fair everyone gives Reform the same scrutiny and attention they would offer if the tables were turned.
The story is getting the coverage it deserves and it might be the only thing uniting Labour and the Conservatives at the moment.
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The latest figure to skewer Reform over the money was Labour MP Jess Phillips, when she appeared on Robert Peston’s ITV programme alongside Reform deputy leader Richard Tice.
Peston had a few questions for Tice about the £5m that Farage received from Christopher Harborne. Just like every other Reform representative, Tice wasn’t too keen to give too much information about the donation – so Phillips took matters into her own hands.
Referencing the upcoming Makerfield by-election in June, Phillips told Tice: “I’ll tell you what people don’t talk about in Makerfield – how their billionaire mate just gave them five million quid. That isn’t a thing that would have happened to anyone in Makerfield.”
After the MPs debated whether or not there needed to be more regulation of landlords when it comes to HMOs (houses of multiple occupancy), Peston then challenged Tice over the most recent controversy relating to Farage: his £1.4m property purchase just weeks after receiving the £5m from Harborne.
Farage and Reform have said the property purchase had nothing to do with Harborne’s money, and that it was bought using the fee Farage received for appearing on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
But reports this week have cast doubt on these claims.