Nigel Farage undermined his own claims that a £5m gift was for security when he referred to the money as a reward for Brexit, according to one of his closest aides. The apparent admission came in undercover footage seen by the Guardian in which Dan Jukes says that it is “priced in” for Farage to profit from politics. The footage raises fresh questions about the party leader’s statements that the gift was solely for security purposes.
The Reform UK leader is awaiting the outcome of a parliamentary watchdog investigation into whether or not the £5m from the crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne, first revealed by the Guardian, should have been declared under parliamentary rules. Farage told the Sun on 14 May: “And this [£5m] was given to me on an unconditional basis, completely unconditional basis. But frankly, it was given as a reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years.” Now, previously unpublished footage from the undercover reporting group Verbatim, shared with the Guardian, has revealed a conversation between Jukes, a longtime close aide of Farage, and an undercover reporter.
The subject of Farage’s funds arose when Jukes quipped that if a US limited liability company could not make a donation because of electoral law, perhaps the reporter posing as a donor could just make him a £5m unconditional gift instead. After discussing if Jukes could think of any ways other than secret polling – foreign-funded polls that appeared to be orchestrated by Reform officials but which were not publicly attributed to the party – for the party to benefit from money from a US LLC, Jukes replied: “I’m happy to take a £5m personal, unconditional gift, of course.” The undercover reporter said: “That seems like it’s [the £5m] been quite tough.” “I’m a realist and I bat straight and it’s a little bit awkward,” Jukes said, appearing to admit that Farage was not meant to change his explanation from the £5m being intended for security costs to say it was a reward for Brexit. The undercover reporter suggested that people did not mind if Farage “makes a few bob [from politics]”.
Jukes replied: “Well it’s a bit priced in with our Nige, isn’t it, no one’s voting for him to be the pope.” If the funds were not given unconditionally but rather as a way to circumvent donation rules, as the footage appears to suggest, it could also trigger questions about whether it was a payment for work and therefore subject to tax. Jukes left Reform after the original Verbatim/Channel 4 investigation was aired. He had worked closely with Farage for more than a decade.
An internal Reform investigation concluded that neither Jukes nor another senior party official, James Orr, had broken laws that ban foreign donations. A police investigation is ongoing. Harborne has previously said of the gift to Farage that it was “to support Nigel’s security not just now, but for the rest of his life”.
Lawyers for the crypto-billionaire have previously said he “expected nothing in return” and “did not envisage Mr Farage returning to politics”. Lawyers for Harborne have said the gift was made on 5 April 2024. According to financial industry sources, some of the £5m was not received until the end of May, just before Farage announced on 3 June that he would stand as an MP.
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