Nigel Farage has declared earning £270,000 for promoting gold bullion – the single biggest payment he has registered since becoming an MP – as the Reform UK leader faces a standards investigation over an undeclared £5m gift from a cryptocurrency billionaire.
The payment from Direct Bullion, recorded in the list of MPs' interests, was for work amounting to an estimated four hours per month across a three-month period, according to a spokesman who said Farage is a “brand ambassador” for the company. The Clacton MP has previously registered payments from Direct Bullion, including £91,200 in February 2025 and £135,000 in November 2025.
“Nigel Farage declares £270,000 from Direct Bullion for gold ads amid investigation into undeclared £5m gift.”
Labour chair Anna Turley seized on the disclosure, saying: “Nigel Farage clearly has the Midas touch when it comes to lining his pockets instead of doing his day job.” She added: “He should be focused on putting more pounds back in his Clacton constituents' pockets rather than racking up payments off the back of gold sales.”
The £270,000 declaration comes as Farage is under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over whether he broke rules by accepting a £5m gift from Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne. Farage has argued he did not need to declare the gift because he received it before his election and that it was not a political donation. He initially said the money was for private security, then claimed it was an unconditional gift to “reward” his Brexit campaign.
In a testy exchange with the BBC’s Nick Robinson, he said: “I don’t think it’s any of your business, frankly… Will you give your salary to charity?” When LBC’s Nick Ferrari asked how he was spending it, Farage bragged: “I can spend it on Ferraris if I want… I can put it on the horses.”
The controversy has coincided with a run of by-election disappointments for Reform UK. After failing to gain Gorton and Denton in February, and Caerphilly in the Senedd last October, the party has drifted down to 25 per cent in the polls – still ahead but several points off the share needed for a majority. An exclusive Survation poll for 38 Degrees found that 68 per cent of Britons were concerned the Harborne gift gave the billionaire “inappropriate influence” over Farage’s political decisions, including 50 per cent of those who voted Reform.
Farage also recorded an estimated £18,402 for his work as a presenter on GB News in the most recent declarations. He had previously registered more than £80,000 from filming personalised messages on Cameo, but paused the service in March citing security reasons.