Badenoch attacks Farage over £5m gift and rules out Tory-Reform pact

Kemi Badenoch has attacked Nigel Farage over the £5m gift he received before the general election as she ruled out an electoral pact with Reform UK.

The Tory leader questioned Farage’s acceptance of the gift from the Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in the months before he stood to become an MP in 2024.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday after Reform’s poor showing in Thursday’s byelections, she said: “The results have left the idea of the Conservatives doing a deal with Reform stone-dead.”

Badenoch appeared to dismiss Farage’s account of the £5m gift, which was first revealed by the Guardian in April. Since then, Farage has changed his story over the reasons for receiving the gift. At first, he said it was to pay for personal security for his lifetime. As he faced questions about this explanation, Farage changed tack, saying he considered it a reward from Harborne for having campaigned for Brexit.

Badenoch said: “Character matters in politics because character is what is tested when things get tough. Do you have the strength to face down your own backbenchers on wasteful welfare spending? Keir Starmer did not. He failed that test.

“And what kind of character accepts £5m in cash and says it was merely a gift? Mail on Sunday readers have far too much common sense to believe that. Nobody gets £5m in their pocket for nothing, whatever Nigel Farage claims.”

The gift is under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner, who will examine whether or not it ought to have been declared.

In Thursday’s byelections, Andy Burnham won Makerfield with a 9,000-plus majority over Reform’s Robert Kenyon and more than 50% of the vote. That result has paved the way for a , with Keir Starmer expected to announce his departure as prime minister on Monday. Meanwhile in , the Scottish Tories defeated the Scottish National party while Reform came a distant third.