Why exactly did Nigel Farage get a £5 million, supposedly no-questions-asked, gift from a Thai-based crypto billionaire? The Reform leader’s story keeps changing, so it’s little wonder Parliament’s standards commissioner is taking a keen interest.
When it first emerged that Farage had been given the huge sum by Christopher Harcourt in 2024 – at a time when he was ‘retired’ and declaring he was done with politics – he claimed it was specifically to pay for his security in the wake of threats to his life.
“I have tried and failed in the past to get security funded by the Home Office and I don’t think the state will ever help me,” Farage told the Daily Telegraph in a soft-soap interview.
“I’m very much on my own and will be for the rest of my life, and I have to face up to that grim reality. Christopher is an ardent supporter who is deeply concerned for my safety.”
Farage’s claim that the state would never help him is curious, since it was only last October that Reform was claiming that his publicly-funded security detail had been cut by 75%, with head of policy Zia Yusuf saying that the decision had been taken by parliamentary officials for “inexplicable reasons”. A cut – but it does rather fly in the face of claims he had never received state funding.
This week, however, Farage’s tune changed entirely, telling The Sun’s Harry Cole on his YouTube channel that the £5m was given as a “reward for campaigning for Brexit”.
“It’s very unusual for someone to give up 27 years of their life to campaign for something,” he said. “And 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.” On whether it had an impact on his decision to return to public life, Farage replied “no” before also saying “I cannot be bought by anybody”.
But if it was given as a reward for his contribution to the Brexit campaign, it contradicts Farage’s argument that he was under “no obligation” to declare the gift because it “wasn’t political in any sense at all”.
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Separately, that it was “unconditional” means it was, of course, just a happy coincidence that shortly after receiving the payment from the crypto billionaire, Farage, who has claimed that “I don’t do computers”, developed a new enthusiasm for the digital currencies, saying how “we are at the dawn of a crypto revolution, and there is an exciting chance to make the UK the world’s premier hub for cryptocurrency and blockchain innovation”.
Now it has emerged that Farage bought a £1.4 million property in cash shortly after receiving the gift with the house purchase, completed in May 2024, coming weeks before he reversed his decision not to stand in the general election.
A spokesperson for Reform said: “The relevant chronology is straightforward. The offer and purchase process for the property commenced before the gift. Mr Farage had already passed proof of funds and the relevant checks before receiving the gift. The purchase was therefore already proceeding independently of it.”
Quite how Farage went from being “skint” (his words) to buying a £1.4m house for cash in just a few years, though, is unaccounted for.
Curiouser and curiouser. Will the standards commissioner get to the bottom of Farage’s ever-changing story?
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