AIBU to think all large gifts to politicians should be declared, regardless of whether they are "political"?

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

Farage claims that the £5m "gift" from Christopher Harbourne was just a personal gift without any political strings attached. He has variously claimed that it was intended to pay for his personal security or that it was intended as a reward for campaigning for Brexit.

Farage claims that he did not declare this "gift" because there is no obligation on politicians to declare "unconditional, non-political, personal gifts".

Given that Harbourne has separately donated millions to Reform to further its political agenda, it is hard to see how the standards committee will reach any conclusion other than to say that the £5m should have been declared. The rules are very clear that gifts should be declared if there is any doubt. So I don't think Farage's defence stacks up.

However, it seems to me absurd that we don't automatically require politicians to declare all gifts or payments over a certain amount, regardless of whether or not they are deemed to be "political". If someone is bunging significant financial "gifts" towards those in power, do we not have a right to know regardless? Is the distinction between "political" and "non-political" gifts not massively open to abuse? Do we not need to know exactly who our politicians are receiving money from, regardless of how the "gifts" might be presented? Is it possible to receive a £5m "personal gift" from someone without feeling some sense of obligation towards them, even if this is never explicitly articulated?

NB this question is not about Farage and his failure to declare the £5m. It is about the wider principle of whether or not we should require all such large gifts to be declared, regardless of their purpose or whether they are deemed to be "political"?

I didn't know that the c-word resulted in posts being automatically hidden. Got caught out by this on another thread yesterday and couldn't figure out why my post had been hidden. It has been unhidden again this morning.

Given Farage and Reform can't keep the story straight and given Farage has pretty much gone to ground, I'd say there is something thing 🐟 here.

Yes exactly.

Some people might see it as absolutely fine for Farage to receive £5 million pounds from someone living in Thailand.

OK, since it's fine, declare it. No worries!

Instead he tried to hide it. And is now digging himself in ever deeper with these shifting stories.

Oh @MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack it's a pain!

I understand why MNHQ do it, because there's so much spam, but it can make discussing the news a bit tricky!

I think the names of specific c-moneys also cause posts to be held.

@MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBackIs the gift not being investigated now? He for it for security (allegedly) BECAUSE he’s a politician. Most people believe that to be a political gift. It kept the Farage show on the road!

God I wish I lived in the world where £5 million can change hands as a personal gift. Obviously YADNBU op, it doesn’t matter what he calls it, if someone gives a politician money there may be strings attached. Everyone in the public sector has to declare being given chocolates ffs, why does he think he’s different? Because he is of course, and the plebs are dirty toys to play with that should shut up and rest in the cupboard when he’s not playing. I wish the public understood just how much contempt Farage has for them.

It is being investigated now, yes. And I'm pretty confident that he will have been found to have broken the rules.

My point is not really about Farage, though. His defence is that it was a personal gift and not a political one. I don't think we can realistically distinguish between those two things. It is inconceivable that someone would receive a gift of £5m without feeling any sense of obligation towards the giver and/or wanting to keep the giver happy just in case they might be feeling generous again in the future. We need to change the rules so that all large gifts are automatically declared.

Oh look.

Reform UK is introducing a bill to promote c-money, including reducing capital gains tax on c-money from 24 % higher rate to a flat 10 %.

CRYPTOASSETS AND DIGITAL FINANCE BILL
https://www.reformparty.uk/reform-crypto-bill.pdf

Well, now I know and I will be more cautious going forward!!

definitely agree OP, all large gifts should be declared regardless of purpose or giver. I’d rather go back further than the current 12 months, about 3 years feels right to me. As you and others have said declaring it doesn’t mean it’s wrong, but the public have a right to know where politicians get their money from. Politicians from ALL parties have been caught taking corrupt money at some point, it’s not about targeting Farage specifically.

Yes, but I'm sure that Harbourne's exceptionally generous gift to Farage, which had no strings attached, has absolutely nothing to do with this Reform party policy and the proposed change in legislation which will obviously massively benefit people like Harbourne. Nothing to see here, it is purely coincidental.

The Nerve has a timeline with all Harborne's donations and Reform's announcements on pro cr*pto regulations.

Agree with going back 3 years as well. And I would extend those declarations to the interests of immediate family members/connected persons. That might seem to be a bit of an invasion of family members' privacy but it would be far too easy to gift large sums of money to a spouse or partner etc if there weren't sufficient controls over this.

As a charity trustee, I have to declare the interests of my immediate family members as well as my own, to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest. We need to require a much higher level of transparency for those who might end up running the country.

That’s why I said digital currencies. It seems to avoid scrutiny.

I will go with that next time!!

I didn't immediately understand "digital currencies" to refer to c-money, so I looked it up.

According to Wikipedia, c-money is only one type of digital currency. Even central-bank issued currencies can be called "digital currencies" if they only exist in electronic form – the cashless society and all that. And then the different types of digital currency each have different issues re being trackable too easily or not at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency#

Making oneself understood without constantly falling foul of MN's automated hold is quite the challenge!

They are all meant to be declared.

@MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack
Yes, I agree. Donations to parties are recorded. The Farage gift is important as it was said to be personal. I agree that it could be a form of bribery and I would prefer money from the state. Otherwise it’s rich people and companies buying favours and we should avoid this. We don’t seem to want to though.