Nigel Farage faces pressure to provide evidence of Russian hack claim over £5m gift

Nigel Farage is facing mounting pressure to provide evidence for his claim that a state-sponsored Russian hack using spear phishing tactics led to the disclosure of a £5m gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

Reform UK said over the weekend that analysis of Farage's phone by "counter-espionage experts" suggested his phone, email and bank accounts were compromised by hostile actors "almost certainly linked to Moscow" before the Guardian revealed details of the undeclared gift last month. Farage told the Mail on Sunday the alleged Russian activity was "deeply concerning".

The Guardian, which broke the story, described Farage's claim as "an attempt to deflect attention from legitimate scrutiny of his financial affairs". A Guardian spokesperson added: "Nigel Farage is once again hiding behind a baseless attack on the media rather than facing up to scrutiny from journalists and politicians."

Kevin Hollinrake, chair of the Conservative party and MP for Thirsk and Malton, said: "If he has genuine evidence that Russia attempted to hack him, he should immediately hand it to the relevant authorities and be fully transparent with the British public about exactly what he knows. The British people are entitled to answers, not distraction tactics."

A Labour party spokesperson said: "Given the seriousness of these claims, Nigel Farage needs to reassure the public that he's reported this to the security services. He also needs to finally come clean as to how his secret £5 million 'gift' from his crypto billionaire backer was spent and why he failed to declare it."

The National Cyber Security Centre is not aware of a report from Farage related to the alleged hack, the Guardian reported. Farage's spokesperson did not respond to questions over who he had reported the alleged hack to, whether any evidence was handed to British authorities, or how the examination of his handset had suggested Russia was responsible.

Farage had not publicly declared the £5m gift, despite parliamentary transparency rules requiring MPs to register gifts and donations above a certain threshold. The money was given to Farage before he announced in June 2024 that he was running in the general election. It came through a company linked to Harborne, one of the UK's wealthiest crypto investors and a major financial backer of right-wing causes.

Initially Farage claimed the £5m was given to him for security purposes to keep him "safe and secure" for the rest of his life, and that the gift was "purely private" and "wasn't political in any sense at all". Harborne said he gave Farage the money to support his "security not just now but for the rest of his life". Weeks later, Farage told the Sun the money was "given to me on an unconditional basis, completely unconditional basis. But frankly it was given as a reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years."

After a referral from the Conservatives, parliament's commissioner for standards Daniel Greenberg launched an investigation under rule five of the MPs' code of conduct, which specifies new MPs should register relevant financial interests received in the 12 months before their election within one month of entering parliament.

Defence secretary John Healey last week challenged Farage to clarify whether any of the £5m gift "may have come from Russia-linked profits". A Reform source suggested the claimed hack could be because Putin is angry with Farage over his support for Nato. In January, Labour accused Farage of "parroting Kremlin lines" when he said he would vote against any deployment of UK troops in Ukraine after a peace deal.