Nigel Farage faces Commons standards probe into £5m gift from donor as Reform leader vows to 'put questions to bed once and for all'

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 13:39, 13 May 2026 | Updated: 13:39, 13 May 2026 Nigel Farage is facing a Commons standards probe into a £5million gift from a party donor, it was revealed today. Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg has opened an investigation into the undeclared money from Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. A Reform spokesman reiterated that Mr Farage believes 'no rules were broken' over the gift. It was received in 2024, before Mr Farage took over the Reform leadership and announced he was standing in Clacton at the general election. 'Mr Farage's office is in communications with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards,' the spokesman said. 'He has always been clear that this was a personal, unconditional gift and no rules were broken. A Reform spokesman reiterated that Nigel Farage believes 'no rules were broken' over the gift 'We look forward to this being put to bed once and for all.' The Reform leader has previously insisted the gift was not connected to his political activity, and was needed to pay for lifelong private security. The commissioner is understood to have opened the investigation under rule five of the MPs' code of conduct. That specifies new MPs should register relevant financial interests received in the 12 months before their election within one month of entering Parliament. The commissioner has the power to recommend suspensions from the House in cases where MPs are found to have breached rules. Any punishments have to be rubber-stamped by the Commons as a whole.  If a suspension is long enough a recall petition can be triggered, which in turn can spark a by-election. However, with Reform well ahead in the polls Mr Farage would be widely expected to win such a contest.  Mr Harborne has separately donated large sums to Reform, including £9million in August 2025 – the biggest single donation in history to a political party from a living person. On Sunday, Reform's deputy leader Richard Tice said the £5million was 'probably not enough' to keep Mr Farage safe. He told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: 'The rules are very clear and Nigel has complied with the rules.' Pressed on whether any of the cash was spent on other political activity, Mr Tice said: 'Nigel's safety and security is absolutely paramount. And I know, because I spend a lot of time with Nigel, that frankly £5million is probably not enough.' He added it was 'a personal gift based around safety and security'. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.