Farage faces further calls for ‘transparency’ over £5m gift

Christopher McKeon, Press Association Political Correspondent

Nigel Farage faces further calls for “transparency” over a £5 million gift from a Reform UK donor following reports questioning his claim he bought a house using the fee from a reality TV appearance.

The Reform leader was reported last week to have bought a £1.4 million house with cash in 2024, shortly after receiving the gift from Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne.

Mr Farage has insisted the gift was unconnected with the purchase of the house, which a party spokesperson said had been funded by his fee from appearing on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here in 2023.

But analysis of Mr Farage’s company accounts, reported by the Financial Times, showed they were “not consistent” with his claims the fee from the reality show was used to purchase the property.

Accounts for Thorn In The Side Ltd, Mr Farage’s company, show the business’s cash position increasing from almost £300,000 in May 2023 to £1.7 million a year later, and then again to £2 million in 2025.

Mr Farage has previously said the fee from I’m A Celebrity, reported to by £1.5 million, was paid to Thorn In The Side.

Tax expert Nimesh Shah, from accountants Blick Rothenberg, told the FT the accounts were “not consistent” with the claim Mr Farage bought the house with his fee from the reality show.

In response, a Reform spokesperson said anti-money laundering checks on the house purchase had been carried out in March, before Mr Farage received the gift from Mr Harborne, adding: “Nigel has multiple sources of income, as you can see from his parliamentary register.”

But his political opponents have called for more clarity, accusing Mr Farage of “dodging scrutiny” over the gift.

Labour chairwoman Anna Turley said: “It’s clear he’s treating the public for fools and thinks he can just brush this scandal under the carpet. He can’t.

“First, the reason why a Thai-based crypto-billionaire gave him a multi-million pound donation changed, and now the claims about how he paid for one of his houses is being called into question.

“His story just keeps on changing.

“One thing is clearer than ever – Farage is just in it for himself and isn’t on the side of working people.”

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said the gift from Mr Harborne “looks ever more suspect”.

He added: “This extraordinary sum of money is more than most people will see in a lifetime.

“His excuses for taking it keep changing.

“The public deserve full transparency about who has put money in Farage’s private accounts and the influence they have bought with that cash.

“He must come clean.”

The revelation of the £5 million gift has prompted an investigation by parliamentary authorities into whether he broke Commons rules by deciding not to declare it following his election in 2024.

‘Personal gift’

Mr Farage has claimed the money was a “personal” gift he received before deciding to stand for Parliament again and was meant to pay for his private security for the rest of his life.

Last week he told The Sun it was a “reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years”.

Newly elected MPs are required to declare any gifts received in the 12 months before their election, except where they “could not reasonably be thought by others to be related to membership of the House” or an MPs’ political activities.