Kemi Badenoch has launched a blistering attack on Nigel Farage over the £5 million gift he received before the general election, as she firmly ruled out any electoral pact with Reform UK. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, the Conservative leader declared that Reform's poor showing in Thursday's byelections had left the idea of a deal 'stone-dead'.
Badenoch questioned Farage's acceptance of the money from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, noting that Farage had changed his explanation for the gift. Initially claiming it was for personal security, he later said it was a reward for his Brexit campaigning. The gift is now under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner over whether it should have been declared.
In the byelections, Labour won the Makerfield seat with a 9,000-plus majority over Reform, while the Scottish Tories defeated the SNP in Aberdeen South, with Reform a distant third. Badenoch said these results vindicated her decision to resist pressure for a pact, arguing that a win 'helped' by Reform would be no real victory.
She drew sharp ideological distinctions, accusing Reform of 'dressing like Thatcherites but acting like Corbynites'. A Reform spokesperson countered that the party leads national opinion polls and will not need to deal with the Tories, whom they accused of breaking Britain.
