The more I dig, the more I realise that Nigel Farage is literally done for. It's over for him. The ยฃ5 million bung is big enough to take the entire Reform movement down and possibly land Nigel in jail.
1) The fact the donation was made BEFORE Nigel was MP is absolutely irrelevant. Parliamentary Code of Conduct requires all receipts for the full 12 months before election. Nigel receiving his bung just a few days before he announced his candidacy makes it so much worse, not better.
2) "Category 5: Gifts and benefits from sources outside the UK - THRESHOLD FOR REGISTRATION Section 39. Members must register, subject to the paragraphs below, any gifts or benefits with a value of over ยฃ300 which they receive from a source outside the UK."
Nigel argues this was 'purely personal' but the Code refers to partners or families when it comes to personal gifts... this takes us to the next issue...
3) Christopher Harborne has a long track record of making SUBSTANTIAL political contributions to Nigel's parties, first to The Brexit Party, and later to Reform. He is a POLITICAL DONOR - any "gift" he made to Farage CANNOT be argued as personal or without political context due to this track record.
4) Using his platform as an MP, Nigel went on to promote 2 companies in which Christopher Harborne holds $ billions in stock - Nigel NEVER publicly endorsed or mentioned these companies prior to the "gift". Nigel also began actively pushing for policy that would directly interest Christopher Harborne and his business affairs. These were not interests that any could argue could possibly be of interest to his constituents - deregulation of crypto, and lowering of taxes on crypto gains. Nigel spent a substantial amount of time and effort pushing these policies.
It is beyond a doubt that this is the biggest breach of Parliamentary Code of Conduct rules in relation to donations in parliamentary history.
But even more concerning for Nigel will be that if it can be proven he was secretly incentivised to use his public office to push for policies to support a wealthy donor, then he should very likely face a criminal probe for corruption and bribery. I suspect Harborne might also be exposed to this. The United Kingdom and Thailand have a bilateral extradition treaty. Maximum prison sentences of up to 10 years for the offence.
This is not going to go away.
So Trump reckons Starmer failed on immigration and North Sea oil.
Net immigration projected to be zero by Christmas.
North Sea oil was privatised by the Tory Party and is sold on the world market.
Rex Tillerson was right.
Trump is a "fucking moron".
@POTUS@SecRubio@VP@SecWar
Dear Keir,
Thank you for standing with Belarusians and for your principled support for our democratic future.
At a time when dictators try to divide and intimidate Europe, your voice stood firmly with freedom.
Belarusians will always remember your solidarity with gratitude.