Nigel Farage’s claim that a Russian hack was behind the disclosure of a £5 million gift he received from a crypto billionaire has been described as “unsubstantiated” by a former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre.
A Reform UK source reportedly told the Mail on Sunday that forensic analysis of Mr Farage’s phone by “counter-espionage experts” indicated that “hostile state actors, almost certainly linked to Moscow, had used ‘spear phishing’ tactics to compromise his phone, email and bank accounts”.
Farage told the newspaper: “These actions by Russia are deeply concerning and highlight the threat they pose to British security.”
For now we must treat this claim as unsubstantiated unless and until some further information emerges
But the Reform leader is under growing pressure to provide evidence for his claim, made amid intensifying scrutiny over the £5 million gift from Thailand-based crypto-entrepreneur Christopher Harborne.
Professor Ciaran Martin, the former head of the GCHQ agency, said in a post on LinkedIn: “Senior figures in public life should not make unsubstantiated claims about foreign (especially Russian) state hacking against them just when something inconvenient comes out, as in this Mail On Sunday splash yesterday where Mr Farage claims the source of knowledge about his £5 million gift from a crypto tycoon was hacking from Moscow.
“If someone in a senior and high profile position feels they’ve been hacked and gets ‘counter espionage experts’ to do ‘forensic analysis’ on the phone, it would then follow that the company which does the analysis is named and that at least some technical evidence to validate the claim should be published.
“More normally still, for someone of this prominence, the incident could have been reported to the National Cyber Security Centre.”
Prof Martin concluded: “So, for now, we must treat this claim as unsubstantiated unless and until some further information emerges.”
The National Cyber Security Centre is understood not to have received a report from Farage related to a suspected cyber incident.
Earlier, Reform UK MP Danny Kruger said he did not know whether Farage had reported the incident to the police or security services, but said information about his finances must have been accessed through illegal means.
Kruger told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is clearly outrageous that a private gift made completely legitimately before Nigel was a politician, with no expectation of it being a public matter, should have been leaked.
“The only way that could have happened is that somebody has behaved illegally, somebody has obtained private information about Nigel’s finances.
“I think there does need to be some kind of investigation into that. I’m not sure how he will want to do it.”
Given the seriousness of these claims, Nigel Farage needs to reassure the public that he’s reported this to the security services
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Russian interference in our politics is incredibly serious and all political parties have a responsibility to challenge it head on and ensure any potential instances of foreign interference are investigated.
“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.
“As every day goes by, Farage’s finances get murkier and murkier. He can’t keep stonewalling this issue and changing his story. The British people will only be left believing they can’t trust a word he says.”
The disclosure of the £5 million gift has prompted an investigation by Westminster’s standards watchdog into whether Mr Farage broke Commons rules by not declaring it after his election in 2024.
Farage has said the money 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.
He later told The Sun it was a “reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years”.
Newly-elected MPs are required to declare any gifts received in the 12 months before their election, except where they “could not reasonably be thought by others to be related to membership of the House” or an MP’s political activities.
The Clacton MP faced further calls for transparency, earlier this month, after he was reported to have bought a £1.4 million house with cash in 2024, shortly after receiving the gift from Harborne.
He said the gift was unconnected with the property purchase, which a party spokesman said had been paid for with his fee from appearing on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2023.
But analysis of Mr Farage’s company accounts, reported by the Financial Times, showed they were “not consistent” with his claims the fee from the reality show was used to purchase the property.
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
