Pair argue over £5m personal gift given to the Reform UK leader

Richard Tice clashed with Labour’s Jess Phillips over a £5million personal gift given to Nigel Farage. The Reform UK leader was given the sum by Thai-based crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne months before his return to frontline politics, which he says was to pay for his security.

Asked about the issue on ITV’s Peston programme, Reform’s deputy leader Mr Tice said: “The point is he was not in politics at the time, he had not decided to come back into politics at the time, it was a gift, it’s within the laws, that was all checked out. The Standards Commissioner is looking at it, they’ll form their own ruling, but Nigel and the team are completely confident that he’s complied with the rules.”

Richard Tice clashed with Jess Phillips on ITV’s Peston programme (Image: ITV)

Ms Phillips then jumped in and said: “I’ll tell you what doesn’t happen in Makerfield, they don’t talk about how their billionaire mates just gave them five million quid.”

Mr Tice replied: “Do you know what they actually talk about? They talk about how are we going to get decent jobs.”

The Labour MP interrupted: “If they had a mate that gave them £5million, they wouldn’t need a good job.”

Reform’s deputy leader replied: “They talk about how are we going to get rid of the HMOs full of asylum seekers.

“How we’re actually going to focus on British citizens, making our lives better, making us more prosperous, using our own oil and gas so we can have cheap bills.”

It comes as Mr Farage is facing scrutiny over the £5million gift, which he has said was a “personal” gift he received before deciding to stand for Parliament again and was meant to pay for his private security for the rest of his life.

An investigation is taking place by parliamentary authorities into whether he broke Commons rules by not declaring it following his election as Clacton MP in 2024.