Farage aide says £5m 'reward for Brexit' remark was not the press office line
In undercover footage, Dan Jukes, a longtime aide to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, says Farage's description of a £5m gift as a Brexit reward was off-message. The recording raises fresh questions over whether the money was solely for security.
A longtime close aide to Nigel Farage, leader of the UK party Reform UK, has said in undercover footage that Farage's description of a £5m gift as a reward for Brexit was not the press office line. The recording, made by the undercover reporting group Verbatim, was seen by the Guardian. It raises fresh questions about Farage's statements that the money was solely for security.
Farage is awaiting a ruling from a parliamentary watchdog on whether the gift from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne, first revealed by the Guardian, should have been declared under parliamentary rules.
What Jukes said
On 14 May Farage told the Sun the money was unconditional, but given as a reward for 27 years of campaigning for Brexit. In conversation with an undercover reporter, aide Dan Jukes said: "That was not the line to take from the press office." He added that the line now was that it was a thank-you for Brexit to pay for security for the rest of Farage's life. When the reporter suggested voters did not mind Farage making money from politics, Jukes said it was "priced in" and that no one votes for him to be pope.
If the money was not unconditional but a way of getting around donation rules, it could raise questions over whether it was a payment for work and therefore taxable.
Disputed timeline and responses
Lawyers for Harborne say the gift was made on 5 April 2024 and that he expected nothing in return. Financial industry sources say part of the money arrived only at the end of May, shortly before Farage announced on 3 June that he would stand as an MP. The Guardian has also reported that Farage told senior Reform figures he would need "a million a year" to cover lost earnings.
Jukes left Reform after the Verbatim/Channel 4 investigation aired. An internal Reform inquiry found that he and senior official James Orr had not broken laws banning foreign donations; a police investigation continues. Farage's spokesperson said Jukes accurately described the gift as being for security for the rest of his life. Jukes's lawyers called the footage entrapment using selective editing.
