Nigel Farage's allegation that a Russian hack was behind a Guardian report on a £5m gift he received from a crypto billionaire has been dismissed as "without any merit" by Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Martin, who led the GCHQ agency, said the Reform UK leader had yet to provide "a shred of evidence" for his claim, which he described as "entirely unsubstantiated."
Farage's claim followed the Guardian's revelation that he received a multimillion-pound donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in 2024, which prompted an inquiry by parliament's commissioner for standards into his failure to declare the gift. The Reform leader maintains the gift was exempt as it was both personal and for his security.
Over the weekend, a Reform UK source claimed that analysis of Farage's phone by "counter-espionage experts" suggested his devices and accounts were compromised by "hostile actors, almost certainly linked to Moscow." However, Martin said Farage had not asked the NCSC to investigate, and that such a Russian operation would amount to an "unprecedentedly aggressive intervention" into British democracy.
Martin stated: "An aspiring prime minister has essentially claimed that Russia has launched an unprecedentedly aggressive intervention in British politics, and he's not produced a shred of evidence to support that claim." He added that if true, the government should be in emergency session considering its response, but that the onus was on Farage to provide evidence and cooperate with authorities.
A spokesperson for the Guardian described Farage's claim as "an attempt to deflect attention from legitimate scrutiny of his financial affairs," adding that he was "once again hiding behind a baseless attack on the media."
