Nigel Farage has insisted the £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire is “none of your business”, telling journalists he could spend the money “on cars if [he] wanted to” and that he is “absolutely convinced” he has done nothing wrong.
The Reform UK leader made the remarks on Tuesday as the parliamentary standards watchdog investigates whether he breached Commons rules by failing to declare the multimillion-pound donation from party donor Christopher Harborne. The gift was made weeks before Mr Farage stood in the 2024 general election, and he has given conflicting explanations for it — first saying it was to pay for private security for the rest of his life, then later describing it as an “unconditional gift” and a “reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years”.
Asked by BBC Breakfast how much of the £5 million he had spent, Mr Farage replied: “It’s none of your business.” He added: “I’m absolutely convinced I’ve done nothing wrong in any way at all,” and said he did not regret failing to declare the donation at the time. “I also know that since I was elected as an MP, I’ve taken zero in personal expenses. I’m very careful and very cautious about these things. I believe it to be a wholly private matter. The standards commissioner may take a different view.”
When pressed on what the gift was for, Mr Farage said: “Let’s be clear, it’s an unconditional gift. I can spend it on cars if I want to. It’s entirely up to me, right. But there is a specific reason for this. I have been physically the most attacked and endangered politician in Britain for now well over a decade. At every stage during that time, when I’ve asked the state to help and support, most times they have point blank refused.” He also cited an arson attack on his home in early 2025.
Standards investigation and potential consequences
The investigation into Mr Farage was opened in May 2026 by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, after the Guardian reported on the undisclosed gift in April 2026 and the Conservative Party referred the matter to the watchdog. The probe is examining whether Mr Farage breached Commons rules by failing to declare the £5 million within one month of entering Parliament — a requirement for new MPs to register relevant financial interests received in the 12 months before their election.
If Mr Greenberg finds that Mr Farage committed a serious breach of parliamentary rules, he could face suspension from the Commons. A suspension of 10 days or more would trigger a recall petition, which could potentially force Mr Farage to fight his Clacton seat again in a by-election. The Electoral Commission is also considering whether to launch its own inquiry into the matter.
This is not the first time Mr Farage has been investigated by the standards watchdog. Earlier in 2026, the commissioner found that he had breached parliamentary rules by failing to register 17 payments totalling roughly £384,000 within the required 28 days. Those payments included sums from Google, GB News, and speaking engagements. However, no action was taken because the breach was described as an “error”.
Mr Farage has previously acknowledged giving an interview about the possibility of becoming an MP before accepting the gift. “Yeah. And after that I said, after that I said, ‘I will not stand in this election’. And I was pretty clear when a snap election was called that I wasn’t going to do it. I did change my mind subsequently,” he said.
The donor and his millions
Christopher Harborne is a British-Thai billionaire businessman and technology investor who also holds Thai citizenship under the name Chakrit Sakunkrit. His business interests include aviation — he owns AML Global, which trades private planes and aviation fuel, and Sherriff Global Group — as well as cryptocurrency. He was an early investor in Bitcoin and Ethereum and holds approximately 12% of Tether Limited, the company behind the Tether stablecoin.
Harborne has become the largest single financial backer of Reform UK, providing more than two-thirds of the party’s total funding. As of April 2026, his donations to Reform had exceeded £22 million. In August 2025, he gifted the party £9 million — the largest single donation in history to a political party from a living person — and a further £3 million in March 2026. He previously donated over £6 million to the Brexit Party in 2019 and, in November 2022, gave £1 million to “The Office of Boris Johnson Ltd.” He also made smaller annual donations to the Conservative Party averaging £15,000 from 2001 onwards, totalling about £270,000.
Harborne is currently pursuing a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, filed in February 2024, over an article that linked him and his company AML Global to banking arrangements for Tether and Bitfinex. He alleges the article falsely accused him of fraud, money laundering, and terrorism financing.
The donation comes against a backdrop of controversy over Reform UK’s funding. Analysis by DeSmog reported that 67% of Reform’s funding — over £24 million — comes from donors with financial interests in fossil fuels; Harborne’s firm AML Global sells jet fuel. Other major donors to the party include hedge fund boss Jeremy Hosking and property developer and former party leader Richard Tice. In March 2026, the UK banned crypto donations to political parties over concerns about foreign influence, despite Reform UK being widely seen as having the most pro-crypto stance of any major party and Mr Farage having promoted crypto interests.
Mr Farage’s own financial dealings have also drawn scrutiny. During his time as an MEP, he declared £205,603 in gifts over ten years, including the free use of a barn for his constituency office, and in 2009 he said he had received £2 million in taxpayers’ money for staff, travel, and other expenses. Shortly after receiving the £5 million gift, Mr Farage’s partner, Laure Ferrari, purchased a £1.4 million property in cash. A spokesperson for Reform stated that the property purchase process began before the gift was received and was independent of it.
Reform UK has claimed that Mr Farage’s taxpayer-funded security detail was significantly reduced in September 2025, forcing party donors to step in to cover security costs estimated at over £1 million per year. Mr Farage had previously sought Home Office-funded security in 2019 but was unsuccessful. He insisted on Tuesday that “no one cares” about the £5 million gift and that he remains careful about his conduct as an MP, despite the watchdog’s investigation. “I believe it to be a wholly private matter,” he said. “The standards commissioner may take a different view.”
