Phil Brickell has reported Nigel Farage to the standards commissioner over a private meeting with Andrew Bailey and the Bank of England’s digital pound plans, putting George Cottrell at the center of a lobbying complaint. Brickell said the issue concerns parliamentary lobbying rules, not just disclosure of a gift. The complaint lands while Daniel Greenberg is already examining whether Farage should have declared a separate £5m gift.
Farage and Andrew Bailey
Last September, Farage met Bailey privately at the Bank of England and asked whether the bank was still progressing plans for a British central bank digital currency. Farage later told Zebu Live in London in October that he regarded the Bank’s plans for a digital pound with “total and utter horror” and that he would be prepared to “go to prison” to stop the proposal.
Brickell said he asked the standards commissioner to look at Farage’s interactions with the Bank because the complaint is about conduct in parliament, not the separate question of whether a gift should have been declared. That distinction matters because one inquiry turns on disclosure while the other asks whether lobbying rules were crossed.
Christopher Harborne gift
Christopher Harborne donated £15m to Reform UK and gave Farage an undeclared £5m gift. Farage and Harborne have both previously said Harborne asked for nothing in return for the gift. Brickell said Farage had used his platform both publicly and privately to advance positions that could benefit Harborne’s crypto interests.
Brickell said Harborne is a major investor in Tether and could benefit from opposition to a state-backed digital currency that could compete with private stablecoins. He said, “Farage took a £5m gift from Christopher Harborne – we know that. We also know that he has since used his platform, both publicly and privately, to advance positions that could benefit Mr Harborne’s crypto interests.”
Standards commissioner review
Brickell also said, “This is not simply a debate about cryptocurrency. It is about whether an MP who has received millions from one individual should be lobbying for policies that could increase the value and profitability of that [Reform] donor’s investments.”
He added, “The public will rightly ask whether these events are pure coincidence or a case of political influence being exercised on behalf of a billionaire backer. That’s why I’ve asked the standards commissioner to investigate and establish the facts.” The immediate next step is the standards commissioner’s review of whether Farage’s private meeting and later comments breached parliamentary lobbying rules, alongside the separate gift inquiry already under way.
