Reform UK told the BBC that Nigel Farage purchased the four-bedroom detached property in Surrey in May 2024 using cash from his appearance on I’m a Celeb in 2023
Nigel Farage is facing questions over Reform UK’s claim that he used his fee from I’m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here to buy a £1.4million house.
Reform UK told the BBC last week that Mr Farage purchased the four-bedroom detached property in Surrey in May 2024 using cash from his appearance on I’m a Celeb in 2023. But analysis of accounts for his personal media company, Thorn in the Side Ltd, by the FT suggested the TV pay-out remained on his company balance sheet.
Its coffers swelled from £300,000 on May 31 2023 to £1.7m on May 31 2024 and no dividend appears to have been paid out during the period, despite Mr Farage’s claim to the FT last year that his I’m a Celeb earnings were paid to Thorn in the Side.
Land registry records seen by the Mirror show that Mr Farage bought the Surrey home – rather than his company – and that there is no mortgage. Reform said: “Nigel has multiple sources of income, as you can see from his parliamentary register.”
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Nimesh Shah, a tax expert at Blick Rothenberg, who reviewed the company accounts for the FT, said that they suggested money from Mr Farage’s reality TV show appearance was not used to purchase the house.
He said the claim that the house was purchased using the reality TV fee “needs to be clarified because the company’s accounts are not consistent with their statement”.
It comes as Mr Farage faces a probe by the Parliamentary standards commissioner into his failure to declare a £5million gift he received from Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before the purchase of the house.
Parliamentary rules mean new MPs have to declare relevant gifts and donations in the 12 months leading up to their election. The Reform leader has described it as a personal gift to pay for his security. He has also said it was a “reward for campaigning for Brexit“.
Reform has said there is no connection between the house purchase and the payment from the bitcoin tycoon. A Reform spokesperson said: “AML money checks were in March, before he received the gift. Nigel has multiple sources of income, as you can see from his parliamentary register.”
But Labour chair Anna Turley said: “His story just keeps on changing. One thing is clearer than ever – Farage is just in it for himself and isn’t on the side of working people.”
It is not the first time the Reform leader has faced questions over his personal finances. In September, The Mirror reported allegations of hypocrisy over the purchase of a house in Clacton, Essex, where he is MP.
His partner Laure Ferrari, 46, paid nearly £900,000 for the home. As her sole property, she would be liable for nearly £32,000 in stamp duty, according to HMRC’s online calculator.
If Mr Farage had bought it himself, it would have cost him at least £75,000 as second home duty. Mr Farage insisted he had done nothing wrong and that Ms Ferrari had paid for it with her own money.