Channel 4 undercover re Farage

@DuncinToffee

Angela Rayner was cleared after an investigation.

Was that because she paid the stamp duty?

Angela Rayner was cleared after an investigation.

Farage calls witch hunt

Farage has changed his story for the £5m so many times, reward for Brexit, security, personal gift.

He knew he had to declare it, 'just a piece of paper'

@DuncinToffee

There is a bit more to it than simply returning the money

Seemed to work for Angela Rayner. She paid the stamp duty that she had previously attempted to avoid, but was appointed to minister of housing by the PM, Andy Burnham.

Shouldn’t the same standards apply to all MPs?

@pointythings

So why does Reform not know?

Maybe Delo and Harborne did not provide copies of:

Council tax and utility bills, property deeds, whether someone is registered with a UK GP, whether they are on the electoral roll, HMRC records for taxes paid..

Until investigations are completed, it’s all speculation.

@SabrinaThwaite

Farage thinks he didn’t have to as it was personal gift as opposed to party donation. Whether the investigation agrees or not is not yet known.

Serious donors to a party could just - produce the evidence of residency, couldn't they. Like, they know when they travelled.

There is a bit more to it than simply returning the money.

@SabrinaThwaite

No need for Reform to look at passports, just the donors’ own evidenced logs.

Excellent post.

As an expatriate for 30 years, I kept copies of:

Boarding cards
Airline tickets
Hire car reservation and receipts
Hotel reservations and receipts
I withdrew cash from local ATMs daily to prove where I was.

It paid off when HMRC asked to explain my whereabouts from 1995 to 2005. Even my tax accountants were impressed with the records I had kept.

To this day I can remember my euphoria when HMRC discovered they owed me.

The problem with the Harborne £5 million gift to Farage was that Farage didn’t declare it. I’m sure this has been pointed out numerous times on this thread.

@DuncinToffee

All these investigations seem to suggest they do not

Initiation of an investigation does not establish guilt. For example, HMRC initiated a compliance check on my accounts for 2024/2025 with the focus being on what I had claimed as subsistence and travel expenses and listed the documents I had to provide.

I provided the document and my tax accountants listed the relevant sections of HMRC Employment Imcome Manual to demonstrate they were legitimate expenses. Great job they did too as HMRC quickly confirmed that no adjustments to the tax due previously declared were necessary.

Regards the recent donations are not considered permissible by the application of law retrospectively, they need to be returned. Simple.

For the Harborne donation of £5 million in April 2024, that too should be returned if Farage is found not to have complied with the relevant legislation.

Whatever the outcome, I don’t it will be what remain supporters are hoping for.

Presumably these donors will have kept accurate records of their time in the UK with the relevant evidence, as required if you don’t want to fall foul of the 90 day rule.

No need for Reform to look at passports, just the donors’ own evidenced logs.

And there are other things which can be used as proof of address - people have to do it all the time for job applications. Council tax and utility bills, property deeds, whether someone is registered with a UK GP, whether they are on the electoral roll, HMRC records for taxes paid... This is all stuff that a respectable billionaire wanting to donate to a certain party and in possession of genuine UK residence could easily provide.

So why does Reform not know?

@EEexpat
The recent donations look like two billionaires playing oneupmanship.

Yes, I have to say Farage does attract people who want to impress him and to be seen to be impressing him. All I could see, from these latest donations, was why NF was so dismissive of Jukes and Orr's small-fry efforts. Why he was so ready to throw them under a bus saying that it wasn't part of their brief - to try to get himself off the hook, as usual. Yet, still the acolytes try to outdo one another .....

All these investigations seem to suggest they do not

@TemperanceWest

I would have thought that Reform's rigorous checks around donations would ensure scrutiny of passports. Especially after the C4 exposè.

The £5 million from Harborne was donated in April 2024. Long before the C4 undercover.

The recent donations look like two billionaires playing oneupmanship.

@DuncinToffee

You are saying Reform do not scrutinise their business dealing?

I don’t know how Reform, or any other Party, runs their business dealings. Do you know?

I would have thought that Reform's rigorous checks around donations would ensure scrutiny of passports. Especially after the C4 exposè.

You are saying Reform do not scrutinise their business dealing?

That's what started the investigation in the £5m in the first place

@DuncinToffee

Might explain why Farage is hinting that Reform’s £72m donations may not be legal under new elections bill

If law can be applied retrospectively, then yes. What was legal in the past at the time of the event might not be legal today.

@pointythings

So why can't Reform answer the question asking whether Harborne meets that threshold?

Same reply as to DuncinToffee. If Reform haven’t seen the passports of both Delo and Harborne, how can they know their movements in and out of the UK?

Whilst the dates of arrival and departure from the UK are known to HMRC, it’s data that’s not publicly available.

Might explain why Farage is hinting that Reform’s £72m donations may not be legal under new elections bill

Bit sloppy of Reform not to check as they were aware of the Representaion of the People bill

Assuming the bill passes as it is, this largely kicks in from when the changes were announced, 25 March 2026.

So why can't Reform answer the question asking whether Harborne meets that threshold?

@DuncinToffee

When did they move back to the UK is not exactly a trick question.

Maybe Reform have not seen Delo and Harborne’s passports, but HMRC will know their dates of arrival and departure from the UK. So, why done the investigators contact HMRC?

@pointythings

It’s possible to be dual resident. The day count is one of the criteria used to determine residency in the UK.

Check out the UK SRT. Link is:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-residence-test-srt/guidance-note-for-statutory-residence-test-srt-rdr3

If someone is in the UK for more than 91 days in a tax year, they will almost certainly be considered resident even if they don’t have a UK passport.

The French Total staff I worked alongside in London had French passport, but because they spent more than 91 days per year in the UK, they paid UK tax. Happy to do as they were lower than France.

When did they move back to the UK is not exactly a trick question.