The debate over whether Nigel Farage should fall on his sword for accepting a £5m gift from a crypto billionaire rumbles on.

The Reform leader is coming under growing pressure after it was revealed he faces a probe for not declaring the cash he took from Christopher Harborne in early 2024 - before he announced he would stand for Parliament. Mr Farage insisted he has done nothing wrong and claimed he needed the money for his security.

It was announced on Wednesday that the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, will investigate after it emerged the Reform leader took the money shortly before the general election.

Reform insists the money was a personal, unconditional gift, meaning there was no need to declare it. To add to Mr Farage's woes, the Electoral Commission is also weighing up whether to launch its own investigation, with an announcement expected by the end of the week.

The Commissioner has the power to recommend a suspension if Mr Farage is found to have committed a serious rules breach which could trigger a recall petition - meaning he would have to stand for re-election in his Clacton constituency.

Farage took exception to being questioned about the gift by Sky News' Beth Rigby, threatening to walk away from the frosty interview before calling the conversation a "waste of time".

He went on to say that it costs "hundreds of thousands of pounds" every year to keep him secure, before blaming the media. If found to have breached the rules, sanctions range from apologising in public, being suspended from the Commons, or even being expelled altogether.

After news broke about the commissioner's probe yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy posted on X: "This stinks. Farage likes to pretend he's a 'man of the people’ … but he and Reform are not on your side."

And Labour Party chair Anna Turley said: "Nigel Farage has been avoiding legitimate questions since news of his billionaire backer’s ‘gift’. It’s right that he faces a proper investigation."

Mr Harborne, also known as Chakrit Sakunkrit in Thailand - where he has lived and worked for two decades - has given more than £22m to Reform in the past seven years. He also bankrolled Mr Farage's travel to Donald Trump's inauguration last year, handing over £27,616.76.

And on top of that, he donated £25,000 to Mr Farage in February to fund a "humanitarian aid mission" to the Maldives, Electoral Commission records show. The Reform leader attempted to travel to the Chagos Islands - home of a joint US-UK military base - but ended up filming videos complaining he was blocked. A permit is required to enter the territory.

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