The Labour Party has written to Nigel Farage, urging him to stop 'evading reasonable scrutiny' over a £5m personal gift from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. The letter comes as details emerge of Farage's plans to renovate a Kent property into a luxury beachfront home.
Farage is under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner after it was revealed he received the gift weeks before deciding to stand as an MP in the 2024 general election. He was subsequently elected for Clacton and held weekly press conferences, which have since stopped.
Labour chair Anna Turley accused Farage of 'running from scrutiny', saying: 'It's time he ended his deafening silence and came clean with the public. He can't keep dodging questions and changing his story.' Farage initially said the gift was for personal security, then claimed it was a reward for campaigning for Brexit.
Farage insists he did not need to declare the £5m as he was not an MP when he received it. However, Turley's letter states his 'shifting accounts have raised further serious questions about whether you have broken parliamentary rules, about potential conflicts of interest and about whether you have told the truth'.
On Sunday, it was reported that Farage's company, Thorn in the Side Ltd, purchased a beachfront house in Kent for £575,000 in March 2023. Plans submitted to redevelop the property include a large extension, four bedrooms, a sea-view balcony, and six bathrooms, potentially costing up to £700,000 and increasing its value to £1.5m.
Farage also bought a Surrey home for £1.4m in May, weeks after receiving the gift. Reform UK said this was funded by his £1.5m fee from 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' and that the purchase began before the gift. However, Financial Times reports suggest the fee was not withdrawn at that time. A spokesperson for Farage denied any link between the gift and the property purchases.
