Richard Tice unable to rule out more undeclared gifts to Reform politicians when questioned by journalist
The Reform deputy leader said he was ‘not aware’ of more large gifts but that he could not check all members’ bank accounts
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice was unable to categorically rule out that any other Reform politicians had received large undeclared donations, after Nigel Farage took a £5 million gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Asked by The Mirror if any other Reform politicians had received large undeclared gifts, Tice said: “None that I’m aware of.”
Tice was then pressed on how proactively Reform was trying to find out whether other figures in the party had received large donations.
The Reform MP responded: “Look, at the end of the day, we’re saying to people, you’ve got to trust us.”
He added that he hadn’t checked the bank accounts of “every single member of the two-hundred-and-something-thousand Reform members”, adding “Don’t be daft”.
Tice also refused to say whether Reform had contacted the police about Farage’s claim that the information about his £5 million gift from Harborne had been illegally obtained by Russian spies.
When The Mirror pointed out that it was puzzling that Reform would not confirm it had reported the alleged breach, Tice said: “I don’t think the right thing to do is to give a running commentary on it, it would actually probably just help our enemies.”
In April when the undeclared gift was first unearthed, Reform said Farage was “intensely suspicious” that Russian spies hacked his phone to obtain the information.
A Reform spokesperson said that the incident had been reported to “the relevant authorities”, but wouldn’t say who these were.
This led to the chair of the Labour Party, Anna Turley, demanding that the Reform leader report his hacking claim to police within 24 hours, or that Labour would do it for him.
As Farage did not respond to confirm whether he had reported his allegation to the police, Labour reported it to the police on his behalf.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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