Nigel Farage has admitted receiving a £5 million donation from a Thai-based billionaire to bolster his security, as he revealed his home was targeted in a firebombing attack. The Reform UK leader said the seven-figure sum came from Christopher Harborne, a British national living in Thailand who previously helped bankroll Brexit, for security purposes back in 2024.
Mr Farage has faced criticism for failing to declare the donation, which was given weeks before he announced his candidacy in the general election. 'This money was given to me so that I would be safe and secure for the rest of my life,' Mr Farage told The Telegraph. '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.'
Mr Harborne's donations to Mr Farage and Reform UK have been a source of controversy, particularly after he gifted the party a record-breaking £9 million donation last August. The separate £5 million gift for Mr Farage was not subject to tax or declared to parliamentary authorities, as it did not count as a political donation, according to The Telegraph.
Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley described the donation as 'the latest alarming example of Farage and his MPs believing there is one rule for them and another for everyone else'.
The Reform leader is regularly heckled in public and had a milkshake thrown on him while campaigning in Clacton-on-Sea ahead of the 2024 general election. Speaking about the firebomb attack on his home in 2025, he said: 'It was an outright arson attempt.' He added that while police investigated, no suspect had been identified. 'I wasn't at home at the time, but when I came back and opened the door, I found the damage. Luckily, it had burned itself out in the porch, and we think maybe the perpetrators were disturbed in the act.'
MP safety has been a highly debated topic in recent years, with calls for action following the murders of Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David Amess in 2021. 'I'm acutely aware of the love for me, but equally the levels of antipathy that exist,' Mr Farage said. 'Sometimes things happen when there are cameras there, but there are plenty of times when things don't make the news, like pints of beer being thrown over me or the attack on my home. I also had to write off a car once because it was attacked by protesters when I was in it.'
Mr Farage also described online threats, claiming he reported them to police without response. 'There is also the online threat, with people encouraging the use of violence against me, which we have reported to the police several times with no response that I can discern whatsoever and the pretty much point-blank refusal of the British state to help me.'
The Independent has contacted Reform UK for comment. The Guardian reported that Mr Farage received the gift weeks before announcing he would run for Clacton-on-Sea, and thus was not required to declare it to the Electoral Commission. However, Reform disputed this, saying Mr Farage announced he would not stand as an MP after receiving the money, then later changed his mind.
