UK's Farage accused of breaking parliamentary rules over undeclared crypto donation

LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - British right-wing Reform leader ​Nigel Farage ⁠faced accusations from rival political parties ​on Wednesday of breaking parliamentary rules by failing to declare a large donation from ​a ‌cryptocurrency investor.

Under parliamentary rules, members of parliament need to declare any donations received ⁠in the year preceding an election within ⁠one month of taking office.

Farage ​said he received the donation, worth more than 1 million pounds ($1.35 million), from crypto investor Christopher Harborne to pay for his personal security before he ​announced his ‌candidacy in the 2024 national election, and therefore it did not constitute a political donation.

Britain's main opposition Conservative Party referred Farage to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner for investigation, while the governing Labour Party also said ​the Reform leader appeared to have broken the rules.

Farage's Reform Party has ‌topped every national opinion poll since early last year, prompting increased scrutiny of the party's sources of funding.

Reform ‌said Farage did not need to declare the money given to him because there is an exclusion under parliamentary rules for "purely personal gifts".

"This was ​a personal unconditional gift that was given before he was elected," a Reform spokesman ‌said in a statement. "We are confident everything has been declared in accordance with the rules."

Farage disclosed details of the gift after being approached by The ⁠Guardian ⁠newspaper about the donation. The Guardian said it was ‌worth about 5 million pounds.

About two-thirds of Reform's funding last year came from Harborne, ​who lives in ​Thailand, according to company filings.

Before the 2024 election ‌Farage had said he did not intend to stand as a candidate but he changed his mind about a month before the vote. ($1 = 0.7409 pounds) (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill Editing by Gareth Jones)