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> Farage said the funds are required for his personal security Nope. If he had declared that then there would be no issue what so ever. There is no restrictio
by defrost 3mo ago
> Farage said the funds are required for his personal security
Nope. If he had declared that then there would be no issue what so ever.
There is no restriction on gifted money, no requirement on what to use it for - simply a common code of conduct that requires gifts to be declared.
Farage could of declared it, but didn't - now he has been outed with his hand in cookie jar in a dark closet he's retconning a reason he simply could have fronted with and taken his cookies with the light on and everybody watching.
There are no qualitative judgements made about what one does with this money, just that it is declared. Looking at the Register of Members’ Interests, you find any number of politicians’ gifts, with varying degrees of information about what the gift was for. Farage could very simply have written “£5m; Christopher Harborne; Security”. If that was too intrusive, he may even have been able to write “£5m; Christopher Harborne; Gift”.
The problem with the Harborne donation, as it relates to the Code of Conduct, is not – and never has been – about what is what for. It is about whether it should have been declared.
Nigel Farage’s donations: four key claims fact checked by an expert in political finance - https://theconversation.com/nigel-farages-donations-four-key-claims-fact-checked-by-an-expert-in-political-finance-287025 https://theconversation.com/nigel-farages-donations-four-key...
- gadders 3mo ago"The Exemption Rule: Parliamentary ethics rules generally require MPs to register financial interests and "personal benefits" received in the 12 months before taking office. However, Farage and Reform UK have leaned on the exemption for strictly personal gifts "which could not reasonably be thought by others to be related to membership of the House" or his political activities" Personal security would come under that. I mean you may not agree, but it's an arguable case.
- gpderetta 3mo agoAre we really still going with the "personal security" story? I thought he had pivoted a couple of times to other, not necessarily more credible, stories.
- gadders 3mo agoHave you got evidence for otherwise? He does appear to have 3-4 security people, driver etc.
- gpderetta 3mo agoI guess technically he never said it wasn't for security. Apparently the 5m was an unconditional gift for campaigning for brexit, and how he had spent the money was “not the public’s business”. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c072prlxlddo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c072prlxlddo https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-the-latest-on-nigel-farages-5m-gift-and-his-resignation-as-clacton-mp https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-the-latest...
- foldr 3mo agoHe can make that case to the investigating committee. If Farage finds that inconvenient then, well, the easiest way for him to avoid such scrutiny in future is to declare any large amounts of money he receives. Not that difficult, and surely in the public interest to do so. The standards committee has not yet made any ruling. It would be one thing for Farage to object to a specific ruling by the committee, but to object to the entire concept of a large undeclared personal gift being investigated simply shows a contempt for Parliament.