Nigel Farage has claimed that the outcome of an investigation into his undeclared £5 million donation from a crypto billionaire has already been determined against him, sharply attacking those who will decide his case.
The leader of Reform UK has just returned to Parliament after winning a by-election he triggered in his Clacton constituency in protest against the House of Commons Standards Committee’s investigation into the donation from Christopher Harborne. The donation was received before Nigel Farage became an MP in July 2024, but less than a year before the election, meaning, according to complainants, it should have been declared. Nigel Farage has insisted the donation was personal and intended to cover his private security costs, so it did not need to be declared.
Farage accuses committee of bias
In sharp comments echoing Boris Johnson’s attacks on the Privileges Committee in 2022, Nigel Farage suggested that MPs and independent members of the Standards Committee have already found him guilty without giving him a fair hearing. He told the BBC: “As for this investigation and its outcome. Have you seen who is on the committee? I think we already know the outcome.”
The tactic, which Boris Johnson and his allies used to deflect attention from allegations of lying to Parliament over the Partygate scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately led to a much harsher punishment. Johnson also lost his right to a parliamentary pass granted to former MPs. At the time, Harriet Harman, who chaired the committee’s proceedings, faced personal attacks.
Justification for the Clacton by-election
BBC political editor Chris Mason asked Nigel Farage about his decision to hold a by-election in Clacton in August, in which no other major party participated, and Farage had to spend much of his time countering comedian candidate Count Binface. Explaining that he had turned to his voters because of the investigation against him, the Reform UK leader was asked about his stance on the matter. In response, he attacked the impartiality of the committee members, chaired by Conservative MP Alberto Costa.
Chris Mason asked Nigel Farage: “Are you clearly implying that you do not believe they can give you a fair hearing?” Nigel Farage replied: “If you look at the composition. If you look at the political composition of the committee, I thought: before they give their verdict, we will ask the people to give their verdict.”
Seeking to justify the by-election, which his opponents said turned him into a laughingstock battling a trash can, Nigel Farage said: “I found myself in a very strange situation where, you know, the Standards Committee was investigating me. You could ask me questions about it. I am not allowed to answer under the rules. I heard someone, [Deputy Labour Leader] Lucy Powell, say that a decision on this could take up to a year, and so the media, everyone, judges me as guilty every day. I am guilty not just of this, but almost everything. And so I said: you know what? While Westminster is obsessed with money, security, whether it was political or personal, and this goes on every day. You know what we’ll do? We’ll ask the people. I will let the people of Clacton, the voters, be the judges.”
Nigel Farage also cited the case of Boris Johnson, who was found guilty of lying to Parliament over Downing Street parties during Partygate, as an example he believes justifies doubts about the impartiality of the investigation. Asked about Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg, he said: “I have no issue with him, but I do think, you know, and probably Boris Johnson could say the same. I do think that when your case is judged by members of Parliament from other political parties, against whom you are competing in by-elections or general elections, it raises questions. I really do think that. And if we look to the future and want to have a system of parliamentary standards, then we certainly need people who are truly apolitical and make such decisions independent of party politics.”
If the committee finds Nigel Farage guilty of breaking the rules and recommends suspending him from Parliament for more than 10 days, it could trigger another by-election in Clacton. The Independent has contacted the Standards Committee for comment.
According to The Independent UK
