Labour Chair Tells Nigel Farage to Report Alleged Phone Hack to Police or Face a Report Herself

Labour chair Anna Turley has given Reform UK leader Nigel Farage 24 hours to report his claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors to the police and security services, or Labour will do so itself. Turley said the alleged breach was a matter of public and national interest because it could amount to a serious cybercrime and a possible hostile-state operation involving the leader of a British political party.

Farage said in a Sunday newspaper interview that “foreign state actors,” likely linked to Moscow, had accessed his phone and leaked details about a £5 million donation from Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency billionaire based in Thailand. According to Farage’s account, he became suspicious after the Guardian revealed the undeclared gift and handed his phone to counter-espionage experts for forensic analysis. Reform sources later claimed the analysis suggested malware had compromised his phone, email and bank accounts, with Russia seen as the most likely source.

Turley’s letter asked Farage to confirm whether he had reported the alleged incident to the police, the National Cyber Security Centre or other relevant authorities. She said that if he had not done so within 24 hours, Labour would report the matter itself on the basis of his public claims and published reports. She also pressed him to explain why Harborne gave him the money in the run-up to the 2024 general election.

Farage has given different explanations for the payment. He initially said it was intended to cover security costs, but later described it as a reward for his campaigning on Brexit. He received the money before announcing he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 election, when he was not an MP. Farage has argued that the donation was a personal matter and did not need to be declared. However, parliamentary rules require potentially relevant interests from the 12 months before someone becomes an MP to be disclosed, and the parliamentary commissioner for standards has already opened an investigation into whether Farage breached those rules by failing to declare the gift.

The claim of a Russian-linked hack has drawn scepticism. Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, said Farage’s account was “an entirely unsubstantiated claim” and said it would be difficult to infer Russian involvement from a phone examination alone. Martin said that because of the seriousness of the allegations, Farage should formally report the incident to the authorities.

A Reform UK spokesperson said the matter had been reported to the relevant authorities, but did not specify which ones. The spokesperson declined to comment further while investigations are ongoing. The dispute has now become both a political and national security issue, with questions focused on whether a foreign cyberattack occurred, whether the alleged hack was properly reported, and whether the £5 million donation should have been declared.