Reform UK is “not aware” of any other large gifts to Nigel Farage or other senior party figures apart from the £5m from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, but cannot check every member’s bank accounts, the party’s deputy leader has said.
Richard Tice, who is second in command to Farage, was given a grilling over the controversial £5m gift as the party gave its first press conference since the personal donation was revealed by the Guardian.
Tice insisted that the party was not avoiding scrutiny and said neither he nor Farage were afraid of questions about the £5m, which was given before the general election.
Asked whether Farage or other senior Reform figures had taken any more large personal gifts, Tice appeared unable to categorically rule this out. He said: “None that I’m aware of. The answer is none that any of us are aware of.”
When later pressed on whether he had tried to find out about further private gifts given by Harborne or other donors, he said: “At the end of the day, we are saying to people: ‘You’ve got to trust us.’ Have I checked the bank account of every single one out of thousands of Reform members? We are working incredibly hard and are confident in what we’re doing and, at all times, our clear view is we’re complying with the rules.”
The senior Reform politician, who was leader before Farage returned in 2024, explained that Farage had not appeared at a press conference for almost 50 days because he was keen to show the party had a broad range of talent.
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” he said. “But in all seriousness, it’s part of this whole point about proving that we are a growing team with people across a range of different groups.”
When asked whether Farage was scared of scrutiny, he replied: “I think one thing you can say over the last 30 years is that Nigel Farage is not scared.”
He was also challenged over “the massive bribe paid to the former Reform leader in Wales [Nathan Gill]” by Russian-linked agents, with the reporter asking how taking “a huge secret payment, and then advocating for Russia, [is] different from taking a huge secret payment and then advocating for crypto”.
Tice dismissed any similarity in the payments, saying Gill’s acceptance of bribes was a criminal offence for which he had been found guilty. He said crypto was a “part of modern society” and argued in favour of an “innovative and transparent” crypto hub in the City of London.
Pressed again on whether it would have been better for Farage not to have taken a cash gift from a “crypto bro”, Tice said: “Our position is very clear, and Nigel’s been very clear. Nigel decided not to do any business with Elon Musk because Nigel’s not for sale. I’m not for sale. None of us are for sale. And in a sense, that’s the joy of these questions. We reiterate it, we reinforce it, and that’s the position.”
Tice said it had been shown there was “no one more transparent who does more press conferences, frankly, than us at Reform” and that “we take all questions”, highlighting that Farage had given a number of interviews in which he was asked about the £5m.
He added: “He’s been very clear. He wasn’t in politics when that gift was made. He believes the advice is absolutely clear that it’s within the rules. Obviously, we’ve got the parliamentary standards commissioner looking at it … They’ll form their own judgment in due course.”
Tice, who is also the party’s business spokesperson, took questions on the donation after a press conference in which he vowed that Reform UK would “clean up Britain”. He criticised big multinational food chains such as McDonald’s, saying they should do more to reduce litter from their packaging, and announced a national day of litter-cleaning in early July.
In response to the event, Anna Turley, chair of the Labour party, said any political party vowing to clean up Britain “should start by clearing up how their leader failed to declare a secret £5m ‘gift’”.
“Tomorrow it will be 50 days since Nigel Farage last gave a press conference. It’s high time he stopped recycling far-fetched stories, desperately deflecting attention, and frantically trying to sweep this huge scandal under the carpet,” she said.
