Nigel Farage referred to standards watchdog over failure to declare £5m gift

Sophie Wingate, Press Association Deputy Political Editor

Nigel Farage has revealed he received a previously-undeclared gift of around £5 million from a Reform UK mega donor to boost his security, as he detailed a firebomb attack on his home last year.

The Reform leader has been referred to the Parliamentary standards watchdog by the Tories, who said he had been required to report the gift to the Commons.

Mr Farage received the seven-figure sum from Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne in 2024 before he re-entered politics.

The British billionaire bolstered Reform’s war chest with a £9 million donation last August – the biggest single donation in history to a political party from a living person – and he has given millions more since and previously.

Mr Farage disclosed he had received the separate £5 million personal gift as he spoke of an attack on his house.

A lit incendiary device was shoved through his letterbox in early 2025 in an “outright arson attempt” when he was not in, he told The Telegraph.

He found the damage when he returned home and “luckily it had burned itself out in the porch”.

Police investigated but have not identified any suspects.

“There are huge dangers in this job,” Mr Farage told the newspaper while campaigning for the May 7 local elections.

The Clacton MP said: “I would rather not be discussing any of this but I am having to because someone has got hold of material about my private finances, which is outrageous, and which I believe was illegally obtained.”

The Guardian reported it had approached Reform and Mr Harborne about the cash, but not received a response by the time The Telegraph published its interview with Mr Farage on Wednesday.

Mr Farage told The Telegraph: “This money was given to me so that I would be safe and secure for the rest of my 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.

“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.”

Mr Farage said it followed his unsuccessful attempt to secure Home Office-funded security in 2019 and after Mr Harborne became concerned about his level of protection when a milkshake was thrown at him.

He accepted the financial support in 2024 before announcing he would stand for Clacton-on-Sea in the general election.

Criticised 

Political opponents criticised him for failing to declare the gift to Parliamentary authorities.

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “As a new Member of Parliament, Nigel Farage was obliged to report to the House of Commons all political donations and gifts he had received during the previous 12 months.

“He did not.

“The Conservatives are therefore today referring Nigel Farage to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.”

Mr Hollinrake told the the Parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, in a letter that he might wish to examine whether any of the £5 million funding “was used to support other political activity rather than solely ‘security’”.

“It is very strange that an up-front, lump-sum payment was made in this way, rather than it being made after he was elected as a Member of Parliament.”

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said: “Nigel Farage appears to have broken the rules again by failing to declare this cash from his billionaire backer.

“Reform have repeatedly tried to dodge scrutiny over their deputy leader Richard Tice’s tax scandal. It’s simply not good enough for Reform to gloss over these egregious acts and further erode public trust in politics.

“It’s just the latest alarming example of Farage and his MPs believing there is one rule for them and another for everyone else.”

The Guardian reported that Mr Farage received the gift from the crypto entrepreneur weeks before U-turning on his claim not to intend to stand in the general election.

Changed his mind

But Reform disputed this account, saying Mr Farage announced he would not stand as an MP after receiving the money, then later changed his mind.

The Reform leader told The Telegraph about other security incidents that had gone unreported, including “pints of beer being thrown over me” and having to “write off a car once because it was attacked by protesters when I was in it”.

“I’m acutely aware of the love for me, but equally the levels of antipathy that exist,” he said.

The party declined to say which of Mr Farage’s homes was targeted in the arson attack for security reasons.