Labour has called on Nigel Farage to “come clean” over his “murky” finances amid revelations that he is currently subject to an unpaid debt from a county court judgement. The row has erupted after Channel 4 disclosed that the Reform UK leader was subject to a county court ruling for almost £10,000, which he had not paid or declared.
According to Reform UK, this county court judgement is separate from another one, which The Independent revealed in September last year, when Mr Farage was ordered to pay £10,000 to Catherine Blaiklock in a dispute over the way he took ownership of the Brexit Party from her. Both Ms Blaiklock and Reform have confirmed that the first ruling in her favour was subsequently set aside, and the party has stated that the one in the Channel 4 report is a new claim that Mr Farage was previously unaware of.
The controversy comes after it emerged that Thai-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne gave Mr Farage £5 million shortly before he decided to stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election. That donation also went undeclared. Mr Farage has claimed it was a gift to pay for his personal security for the rest of his life.
Labour Party chair Anna Turley said that the situation around Mr Farage’s finances “stinks”. She stated: “After pocketing £5 million from his billionaire backer and not declaring it, this latest episode regarding the county court judgement exposes Farage’s inability to be transparent. Farage is taking the public for a ride. It’s one rule for him and another for everyone else.”
She added: “Farage’s finances just get murkier and murkier. If this is how he handles his own affairs, the public can have no faith in his ability to manage the public finances if Reform won power. It’s time Nigel Farage finally came clean over what he really spent his secret £5 million ‘gift’ on. This scandal has shown that he’s not on the side of ordinary Brits – he’s just in it for himself.”
A Reform source has said that Mr Farage has been subject to multiple county court judgements from “people trying to hurt us” where he has failed to receive the papers before a default judgement was issued. The source added: “It’s insane, none of them ever win or get to stick, they only get a momentary win if we don’t actually receive the paperwork like the Channel 4 one.”
The earlier dispute with Ms Blaiklock was over the ownership of the Brexit Party and has since been discontinued after it was set aside. The Brexit Party name was initially registered by Ms Blaiklock, Ukip’s former economy spokesperson. The Independent has previously reported how, in 2018, she was persuaded to do a deal with Mr Farage to effectively allow him to take over and lead the party as a limited company in April 2019. She claimed she was promised a chance to run for parliament in Great Yarmouth in return, but the subsequent decision not to stand MPs against Tory MPs in that election meant she lost out. She resigned as a director after Mr Farage is said to have told her in a letter, ahead of the 2019 European elections, that her right-wing social media output would prevent them from being given a bank account by Metro Bank.
Details of the latest county court judgement are unavailable, but Reform has confirmed to The Independent that Mr Farage was “unaware of it” and will be instructing his lawyers to have it set aside.
