Farage questioned by standards commissioner over £5m gift

Nigel Farage insists the £5m gift was for his personal security. Photograph: Scott Heppell/ReutersView image in fullscreenNigel Farage insists the £5m gift was for his personal security. Photograph: Scott Heppell/ReutersNigel Farage questioned by standards commissioner over £5m giftReform UK leader was interviewed for half an hour last month over money from crypto billionaire

Nigel Farage has been interviewed by the standards commissioner for an investigation into whether he should have declared a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

The Reform UK leader spent about half an hour being questioned over the money, the Sunday Times reported. Farage maintains the gift was for his personal security.

The interview conducted last month is a sign the process is nearing a conclusion, although Reform UK is not believed to have been informed that the report is finished.

An MP under investigation is usually notified before the conclusion of the process. If the commissioner finds that there has been a serious breach of the rules, the matter is passed to the standards committee of MPs and lay members, which can ask for further evidence.

The committee can recommend a sanction or override the report.

If it suggests more than a 10-day suspension from the Commons – and parliament agrees – the Reform UK leader could find himself facing a recall petition and second byelection in his Clacton constituency.

Farage has been under investigation over the gift since shortly after the Guardian revealed in May that Harborne had given him £5m just before the last election in 2024.

The Reform leader has said it was a personal matter, not political, and the money did not need to be declared. The rules state that financial support related to an MP’s job needs to be registered if given in the 12 months before they enter parliament.

After a slide in the polls over the summer, Reform is about to embark on a major reorganisation at its headquarters to try to revive its fortunes.

Insiders said it would involve a big shake-up of staffing, in addition to the suspensions of James Orr, the party’s head of policy, and Dan Jukes, Farage’s close aide. The pair are facing an internal investigation into whether they encouraged illegal foreign donations during an undercover investigation by reporters from Verbatim.

1:15Footage from the Channel 4 News and Verbatim undercover investigation into Reform finances – videoThe inquiry is being carried out by lawyers who are expected to reach their conclusions soon. The matter is also the subject of a police inquiry.

The party is working out how to spend £72m in donations from Harborne and another crypto billionaire, Ben Delo. The huge sums have prompted calls from political rivals for a donation cap.

Read moreA possible use of the money is the relaunch of a TV channel that produces Reform-related video coverage and a show fronted by Farage.

Farage told the Sunday Times he thought the reaction to the donations would be “far worse” but had produced “some grudging respect – the fact that I managed to pull off a coup of that magnitude, I think people were quite impressed”.

It is not clear whether the donations fall within the rules because the government is putting forward legislation to ban overseas donors from giving more than £100,000 in a calendar year – backdated to March this year.

Harborne joined the UK electoral register only this summer and Delo has been largely based in Hong Kong, although on the register for some years.

If the donations are ruled impermissible, Reform could have to hand them back, a prospect that is likely to lead to court action.