Reform UK has declined to comment further after reports that Nigel Farage suspected his phone, email and bank accounts had been compromised by foreign state actors, with the party saying it would be inappropriate to speak while investigations are ongoing. According to a report in the Mail on Sunday, Reform sources said Farage became intensely suspicious after the public disclosure of a £5 million gift from businessman Christopher Harborne. The sources said Farage submitted his mobile phone for forensic examination by counter-espionage specialists, who allegedly concluded that hostile state actors, almost certainly linked to Moscow, had used spear phishing tactics to gain access to his devices and accounts.
Spear phishing is a form of cyberattack in which hackers send personalised messages to trick a target into installing malware or revealing sensitive information. Farage said the alleged actions by Russia were deeply concerning and showed the threat he believes Moscow poses to British security. The claims have prompted calls from Labour and the Conservatives for any evidence to be handed to the UK’s security services.
Labour chair Anna Turley wrote to Farage saying the alleged crime is extremely serious, with possible implications for national security, the integrity of politics and public confidence in democracy. She said any evidence of hostile-state hacking or foreign interference should be passed to the proper authorities for a thorough and independent investigation. In a separate letter to the Metropolitan Police and the National Cyber Security Centre, Turley said that if Reform UK had not already reported the matter, her letter should be treated as a formal report based on media allegations of a serious crime. She stressed that Labour was not asserting whether the alleged compromise had happened.
The NCSC said it stands ready to support any suspected cyber incident reported to it. The issue comes amid continuing controversy over the £5 million gift Harborne gave Farage in April 2024, two months before Farage announced he would stand in that year’s general election. Parliamentary rules require newly elected MPs to register financial interests and registrable benefits received in the 12 months before election within one month of being elected. While purely personal gifts do not normally need to be registered, the rules say the giver’s motive and intended use of the benefit must be considered, and that doubtful cases should be declared.
The payment did not appear in Farage’s declaration of interests and became public only after being reported by the Guardian last month. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has since opened an inquiry into whether Farage breached parliamentary rules. Farage has said the gift was purely private and not political, arguing there was no obligation to declare an unconditional, non-political, personal gift. Harborne previously said he did not expect anything in return apart from ensuring Farage’s safety, and said he made the donation out of admiration for Farage’s role in delivering Brexit.
