Reform UK says Nigel Farage used his I'm a Celebrity fee to buy a £1.4m Surrey house, as scrutiny continues over a £5m donor gift.
Reform UK says Nigel Farage paid for a £1.4m house in Surrey with money from his appearance on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here , not with a £5m gift from billionaire donor Christopher Harborne.
The explanation comes as the Reform UK leader faces scrutiny from Parliament’s standards watchdog over whether the Harborne payment should have been declared after Farage became an MP. BBC News has reported that the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is launching an inquiry into whether Farage broke Commons rules by not registering the payment.
Land registry documents seen by the BBC show Farage completed the purchase of a £1.42m property in Surrey on 10 May 2024. The documents show the house was bought in cash, without a mortgage.
Sky News reported on Thursday that the purchase was completed shortly after Farage received £5m from Harborne, a Thailand-based British businessman and Reform donor. Reform says the timing does not mean the money was connected to the property deal.
“The relevant chronology is straightforward. The offer and purchase process for the property commenced before the gift,” a Reform UK spokesman told the BBC. “Mr Farage had already passed proof of funds and the relevant checks before receiving the gift. The purchase was therefore already proceeding independently of it.”
The party said the house purchase had “nothing to do” with Harborne’s payment and that the funds came from Farage’s ITV fee. Farage appeared on the reality programme in December 2023, finished third and was reportedly paid a seven-figure sum.
Harborne gave Farage £5m on 5 April 2024, two months before Farage announced he would stand in that year’s general election. Reform has said the payment was a personal gift intended to support Farage’s security and did not need to be declared because it was “personal” and “unconditional.”
Parliamentary rules require new MPs to declare donations received in the 12 months before they were elected. The payment was not listed on Farage’s register of interests and became public after it was reported by the Guardian last month.
Harborne later became Reform’s biggest donor, giving the party £12m in 2025. He told The Telegraph in April that he was not expecting anything in return for the £5m payment other than ensuring Farage’s safety, and said he made it out of admiration for Farage’s work on Brexit.
Farage told The Sun on Thursday that the payment was “given as a reward for campaigning for Brexit” and that he was “not in the least bit worried” about the standards inquiry . The commissioner’s examination is expected to determine whether the gift fell within Commons declaration rules.
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