Sky News rejects claims it ‘hounded Nigel Farage’s daughter’

Sky News has rejected Nigel Farage’s claims that its journalists had ‘hounded’ his daughter in a bid to ask him questions about financial support he had recieved.

It comes amid growing questions about the sources of Farage’s financial support and the company he keeps as well as undeclared gifts.

Farage is already under investigation from Parliament’s standards commissioner since May over a failure to declare a £5m gift he received from a billionaire Reform donor before he became an MP.

And there are calls for another probe after he did not disclose support provided by a different political ally.

It was revealed by the Times that the Reform UK leader failed to declare benefits, including staffing, security and housing, provided by long-time aide George Cottrell before he was elected as MP for Clacton in the 2024 general election.

Under parliamentary rules, new members must declare financial interests and “registrable benefits” received in the 12 months before their election, unless where the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.

When a Sky Camera crew approached Farage at an airport on July 7 to ask him questions about whether he should’ve declared the financial gifts, a visibly angry Farage accused them of harassing his family.

Farage escalated the dispute after taking to X to accuse Sky News of targeting his family, claiming journalists had harassed his daughter while reporting on him.

He wrote: “Several media organisations have been hounding my daughter.

“When I approached the boss of Sky News and complained, they denied any contact — and so did their news report.”

“Sky News are liars. I demand an apology from them and a promise not to repeat it.”

However, Sky News have responded on X, denying Farage’s claims.

The X handle of the news channel posted in reply to Farage: “Clarification: Sky News was not at the property at 7.41am. As has already been acknowledged, and as shown in the footage from 10.19am, Sky News was outside a property where Mr Farage was registered to vote at the last election. Sky News did not interact with Mr Farage’s daughter.

“On a single occasion, we approached the property without a camera operator, identified ourselves as Sky News, and the adult occupant chose not to engage. We were seeking to contact Mr Farage to ask questions about the gift he accepted from Mr Cottrell. This is a well-established and routine journalistic practice when reporting on matters of legitimate public interest.

“The footage clearly demonstrates that Sky News did not “hound” or pursue Mr Farage’s daughter. At no stage did we seek to speak to anyone other than Mr Farage in connection with this story.”