Nigel Farage took the £5 million ‘unconditional gift’ from Christopher Harborne after reportedly telling Reform insiders that he would need “at least £1 million a year’ to return to politics.
The Guardian reports that Farage told senior Reform figures he would require the sum to cover his loss of earnings from his lucrative GB News role, for which he was paid more than £1m a year.
Sources told the Guardian these discussions took place in March 2024, shortly before Farage was handed £5m by Thailand-based crypto billionaire Harborne on April 5.
One source told the publication that Farage said he could not put himself “through the wringer” of standing and “end up skint”.
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The Reform leader is also reported to have said he was being “properly paid” for the first time in years.
In a post on X, the Guardian’s City Editor Anna Isaac said Farage had also cited the “financial harm of giving up his City career” if he returned to politics.
Isaac wrote: “The Guardian has now been told by three sources that in March 2024 Nigel Farage told senior Reform insiders that if he were to resume leadership of the party, and run to be an MP, he would need to be compensated for the financial harm of giving up his City career to spend 20 years campaigning and standing for election again.
“Insiders and donors were insistent that Farage needed to return and to take Reform into not only a 2024 general election but a 2029 one, too. He argued that would cost him £5m, the sources said. No mention was made of security costs in the discussions about needing to replace lost earnings, sources said.”
Isaace added that Farage’s office has not denied he made the comments, but said in a statement: “Mr Farage says he does not feel any answer he gives to you will be reflected accurately.”
Lawyers for Harborne reiterated that he did not expect anything in return for his donation to Farage and “did not envisage Farage returning to politics.”
Farage has provided a number of reasons for the £5m he received from Harborne, which he argues he did not need to declare after becoming Clacton MP because it was a “personal” and “unconditional” gift.
Farage has previously said the sum was both so he could fund his own private security and that it was a reward for his Brexit campaigning.
He has refused to disclose how much of the money he has spent and on what, telling the media last month that he could “spend it on Ferraris” if he wanted to.