Farage received £5m from donor before he became MP

Farage received £5m from donor before he became MP15 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJoe Pike,Political correspondentandBrian Wheeler,Politics reporterPA MediaNigel Farage is touring the country ahead of next week's electionsNigel Farage received £5m from Reform UK mega donor Christopher Harborne before he became an MP, it has emerged.In an interview with The Telegraph, the Reform UK leader said he had been given the money to pay for personal protection "so that I would be safe and secure for the rest of my life".He also told the newspaper his home had been targeted last year in a firebomb attack.Labour and the Conservatives have both accused Farage of breaking Commons rules by not declaring the £5m gift in the register of interests, with the Tories saying they had referred the Reform leader to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. Harborne, a British cryptocurrency investor who lives in Thailand, last year donated £9m to Reform UK - the biggest single donation to a UK political party by a living person.The separate £5m gift to Farage came in early 2024, Reform sources told the BBC, and it does not appear on his MP register of interests.Labour Party chair Anna Turley said Farage "appears to have broken the rules again by failing to declare this cash from his billionaire backer".Conservative party chair Kevin Hollinrake said that as a new MP, he should have declared the gift, adding: "Why does Reform think the rules don't apply to them? "This stinks and Reform should come clean now."Farage's team say there was no requirement to declare the money because it was a personal gift.A Reform UK spokesman said: "This was a personal unconditional gift that was given before he was elected. We are confident everything has been declared in accordance with the rules."The Commons code of conduct states that new MPs "must register all their current financial interests, and any registrable benefits (o...