Nigel Farage is facing intense pressure to investigate and eliminate connections between his Reform UK party and Russia after one of its former senior politicians was sentenced to a decade in prison for accepting bribes from a pro-Kremlin agent.
The sentencing of Nathan Gill, who previously led Reform UK in Wales, marks a damaging development for Farage, coming at the end of a week where the Guardian revealed historical racism allegations against him, which he denies.
The Kremlin Connection
Gill admitted to eight counts of bribery after accepting payments to make statements favourable to Russia. Police believe he received at least £30,000 from Oleg Voloshyn, a former Ukrainian MP and alleged Russian asset now believed to be in Moscow and wanted for high treason in Ukraine.
The offences occurred between 2018 and 2019 while Gill served as an MEP, having been originally elected as part of the Ukip group led by Nigel Farage before later joining the Brexit party.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, sentencing Gill at the Old Bailey, told him he had betrayed public trust. "When you say what someone has paid you to say, you are not speaking with sincerity. If it were your genuine opinion, you would not need to be paid for it," she stated.
Wider Political Fallout
The scandal widened as it emerged Gill had been paid to arrange for other Brexit party and former Ukip MEPs to make pro-Russia statements without their knowledge. According to CPS sentencing notes, four other MEPs - Steven Woolfe, William Dartmouth, Jonathan Arnott and Jonathan Bullock - made interventions after Gill was promised bribes to arrange their statements.
A fifth MEP, David Coburn, former Ukip leader in Scotland, was also mentioned in WhatsApp messages between Voloshyn and Gill. Investigators confirmed none of these MEPs received money themselves or were aware of the arrangement.
WhatsApp messages revealed Voloshyn passed on praise from Viktor Medvedchuk, a decades-long loyal ally of Vladimir Putin, who described the MEPs' appearances on pro-Russian channel 112 Ukraine as "awesome".
Political Reactions and Demands
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on Farage to "leave no stone unturned" in reviewing Reform UK's structures, membership, donors and representatives. "This demands that Nigel Farage investigate how that happened within his party, and what other links there are between his party and Russia," Starmer told the BBC.
Farage dismissed Gill as a single "bad apple" and attempted to redirect scrutiny toward Labour, saying: "The prime minister needs to urgently investigate the links with the Chinese Communist party within the Labour party."
Reform UK described Gill's actions as "reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable" and stated they were "glad that justice has been served".
The Conservatives demanded Farage "come clean on the nature of his relationship with Gill", while the Liberal Democrats launched attack ads showing the Reform UK leader in Vladimir Putin's pocket.
Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, revealed that messages initially used coded language about "xmas presents" and "gifts" before becoming more direct, with Voloshyn stating "I'll get you 5k" for arranging MEP appearances.
Police seized €5,000 in cash and thousands of dollars from Gill's home but say they don't know what happened to the full amount of bribes he received. Investigators believe financial need largely motivated Gill, though he has offered no explanation for his actions.
