There is one upside for Nigel Farage if the on-going standards probe into his undeclared £5 million “unconditional gift” from a Thai-based crypto billionaire sees him suspended from the Commons and ousted as an MP – he will no longer have his riches made public. In the meantime, though, his outside earnings continue to rack up.
While aides have supposedly suggested the Reform leader keeps a low profile for a while, he has declined to cease his lucrative extracurricular activities. His latest entry to the Commons’ register of members’ interests shows a further £288,000 in earnings beyond his nominal role of representing Clacton, for which he earns a mere £98,599 per year.
Farage has just declared another £270,000 for just 12 hours’ work as a “brand ambassador” for Direct Bullion, a gold dealer – or £22,500 an hour (the website Payscale estimates the average annual salary in Clacton to be £25,000). It takes his total earnings from the firm to just shy of half a million pounds since becoming an MP in 2024.
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In addition, he has declared a further £18,000 from GB News for six hours of hosting his evening talk show, meaning the hard right channel has paid him a total of £427,000 during his 18 months in Parliament. Farage’s total outside earnings now total £1.3 million, making him Parliament’s second-highest earner after former prime minister Rishi Sunak – who donates his income from various advisory roles to charity.
It puts Farage’s total wealth at around £10 million, excluding his various properties. The latest accounts of his firm Thorn in the Side – whose business, as registered with Companies House, is “other professional, scientific and technical activities not elsewhere classified” – show it currently has assets of £3.1 million.
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Farage is currently facing a parliamentary sleaze investigation into the megabucks gift from Christopher Harborne, the Thai-based cryptocurrency billionaire who also goes by the name of Chakrit Sakunkrit, which Farage continues to ludicrously claim was unrelated to his status as a politician and therefore did not need registering.
If the parliamentary commissioner for standards finds that it should have been declared, Farage may face suspension from the Commons – and, if that suspension is 10 days, it will trigger a recall petition in Clapton which would see a by-election called if more than 10 per cent of registered constituents sign it.
The former city trader features prominently in a video on Direct Bullion’s website in which he tells prospective gold investors that the firm is “the right company to be with”. He says: “I’ve got to tell you I’m very impressed with this company and I’m very pleased and proud to put my name to it.” We bet he is, at £22,500 an hour!
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