Nigel Farage, leader of the British party Reform UK and one of the main architects of Brexit, believes that “hostile actors“ from abroad hacked his phone to obtain details of a £5 million donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, the Daily Mail reports, citing party sources.
According to them, “only four people in the world knew about the donation“, so Farage has handed over his phone to counterintelligence experts for analysis. They concluded that “hostile state actors, almost certainly linked to Moscow“ used phishing tactics to hack his phone, email and bank accounts.
“These actions by Russia are deeply disturbing and highlight the threat they pose to British security“, Farage himself said in a comment to the publication.
At the end of April, The Guardian reported on a donation made by Harborne to Farage. According to the newspaper, it was made in 2024, shortly before the leader of Reform UK announced his candidacy for the upcoming general election. Farage had previously stated that he had no intention of running.
The publication of the translation caused a political scandal, as Farage did not declare it in the House of Commons after being elected to parliament. As reported by The Guardian, British Defense Secretary John Healey has written to the Reform UK leader, urging him to be transparent about the receipt of the £5 million, including confirming that the money was not “received through deals with Russian state-owned energy companies“.
Farage faced fierce criticism last year for a 2014 interview in which he said he disliked Russian President Vladimir Putin as a person but “admired him as a politician“.