Farage says he could spend £5m gift on Ferraris

Nigel Farage defended a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift from Christopher Harborne as ‘a purely private matter’ during a round of broadcast interviews on Tuesday. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has opened an inquiry into whether the payment should have been registered after Farage won his Clacton seat in 2024. New MPs must register gifts worth more than £300 received in the previous year unless they cannot reasonably be tied to parliamentary or political activity. A finding that the rules were breached could lead to suspension from the House of Commons and potentially trigger a by-election.

Farage described the payment as ‘an unconditional gift’ and said he could ‘spend it on Ferraris’ or ‘put it on the horses.’ He argued he was not obliged to declare the money because he ‘wasn’t in politics’ when it was given and described the donor’s motive as a reward for his Brexit campaigning over 27 years. He denied giving inconsistent explanations for the cash and said the gift was unconditional.

Earlier Farage had said the money was intended for personal security, then later framed it as a reward for campaigning. A broadcaster pointed out that he had discussed a possible parliamentary run on his own podcast shortly before the donation. When asked whether he would return the money if the rules were found to have been broken, he rejected the line of questioning as ‘any of your business’ but said he would address the issue if the standards commissioner required it.

Christopher Harborne is a British billionaire based in Thailand who holds a reported stake in the issuer of the USDT stablecoin and is listed among the country’s wealthiest individuals. The personal payment to Farage is separate from larger donations Harborne has made to Reform UK. In the first quarter of 2026, Harborne and another crypto investor, Ben Delo, together donated about $9.4 million (roughly £7 million) to Reform UK; Harborne also gave £3 million to the party on January 23. Those party donations were not made in cryptocurrency, nor was the gift to Farage.

Labour has accused Farage of avoiding scrutiny over the undeclared payment. Farage rejected suggestions that the donation bought crypto-friendly advocacy, saying he already supports legal changes for digital assets, including proposals for a national Bitcoin reserve and lower capital gains tax on digital assets. He added that even if London grew as a trading hub for crypto it would represent a small portion of the global market and would not move prices.