MP reports Nigel Farage over alleged crypto lobbying ties

Labour MP Phil Brickell has referred Nigel Farage to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, alleging that Farage lobbied the Bank of England in September 2025 to oppose plans for a state-run digital pound.

Brickell asked Commissioner Daniel Greenberg to examine Farage’s contacts with Governor Andrew Bailey and central bank officials, citing parliamentary rules that bar MPs from acting on behalf of people who have paid them within 12 months of a payment.

The complaint focuses on a private September 2025 meeting where Farage reportedly urged the Bank to abandon work on a central bank digital currency, often called a digital pound or ‘Britcoin.’ The Bank later removed a proposed £20,000 cap on individual stablecoin holdings that Farage had publicly criticised.

Labour MP Joe Powell has written to Governor Bailey requesting details of the meeting, arguing that decisions on the financial system ‘must be made in the public interest and on the basis of rigorous, independent assessment, not shaped behind closed doors to benefit individual financiers.’

The donor at the centre of the complaint is Christopher Harborne, a billionaire investor who holds about 12% of the issuer of the USDT stablecoin. Farage accepted an undeclared personal gift of £5 million from Harborne before standing in the July 2024 general election.

Records show Harborne also provided two £25,000 donations to Farage for travel in January 2025 and February 2026, and provided additional funding to Reform UK between August and February. The Parliamentary Commissioner is separately investigating whether the £5 million gift should have been declared.

Farage has described the £5 million as ‘an unconditional gift,’ and on radio he told listeners ‘I can spend it on Ferraris if I want.’ He has offered different public explanations for the money, including security costs and compensation for political work. Both Farage and Harborne have said the donor wanted nothing in return.

Reform UK dismissed the broader allegations as ‘utter rubbish.’ The Bank of England characterised the September meeting as routine engagement with political figures, noted that Farage and Governor Bailey held differing views on a digital pound, and has not published minutes of the discussion.

The standards inquiry will assess whether Farage breached rules on lobbying on behalf of donors and whether private meetings with financial policymakers were appropriate. Commissioner Daniel Greenberg will decide whether to open a formal investigation.