Farage suggests he believes investigation into £5m gift will find against him
Nigel Farage has suggested he believes Parliament’s standards commissioner will find against him when an investigation into a £5 million gift he received is wrapped up. The Reform UK leader was interviewed by Daniel Greenberg, the commissioner, for around 30 minutes in September amid a probe into whether he should have declared a £5m gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. Under Commons rules, new MPs are required to register any gifts worth more than £300 they received in the previous 12 months, except where it “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article gives the exemption to the registration rule but not the Guide's instruction that a member should register a benefit whenever there is doubt. A reader may think the exemption is the default.
How we know
- Our analysis“The Guide also expressly states that where there is any doubt about whether a benefit is registrable, the rule is to register it.”Due Accuracy. Due Impartiality. Due Intervention.
Mr Farage was asked about the interview as he appeared on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg. If Ann Widdecombe’s murder at the age of 78 doesn’t justify me being able to pay for my security to whatever level is needed for the rest of my life then I don’t know what is Nigel Farage He replied: “Under the rules of Parliament, if I even answer your question, I will receive a letter of rebuke from the standards commissioner. “This is the farce of it: You can say what you like, people can write what they like, I’m not allowed to respond.
“But to hell with it: Yes, I have been interviewed about it, and you know what? “If Ann Widdecombe’s murder at the age of 78 doesn’t justify me being able to pay for my security to whatever level is needed for the rest of my life then I don’t know what is.” Asked if he expected the commissioner to find against him, Mr Farage replied: “Do I think the establishment would find against me, the leader of an insurgent party? What a question to ask.”
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article quotes the rule exempting gifts that could not reasonably be thought to relate to political activities, and then prints Farage's claim that the money was for his personal security. It never reports that Farage told The Sun the gift was a reward for campaigning for Brexit, or that Harborne said he gave it out of admiration for Farage's work to achieve Brexit. Without this, a reader takes the gift as a private security payment and cannot see why the exemption is in question.
How we know
- Our analysis“Both have publicly characterised the gift as a payment tied to political activity.”Due Accuracy. Due Impartiality. Due Intervention.
- Our analysis“Mr Harborne told The Daily Telegraph the gift was given ‘because of my great admiration for the decades of work he had done to achieve Brexit’.”Due Accuracy. Due Impartiality. Due Intervention.
Mr Harborne is one of two crypto-billionaires who donated £72 million to Reform. The twin £36 million gifts from Ben Delo and Mr Harborne reignited calls for a blanket cap on donations, going further than legislation aimed at restricting donations from overseas sources. Mr Harborne was based in Thailand, but in June he was reported to have registered to vote in Hampshire.
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