Honest Bob
Reform UK , Issue 1679 IT SAYS much about Reform UK’s senior figures that the spokesman put out to defend Nigel Farage’s undeclared acceptance of support from one-time jailbird “Posh” George Cottrell was a certain Robert Jenrick.

Jenrick’s improbable line to Laura Kuenssberg on her Sunday morning BBC show was that the gifts were before Farage became an MP (irrelevant as they were in the year before his election) and were “purely personal”.

This is the same Robert Jenrick who is perhaps best known for a 2020 meeting, which itself wasn’t properly declared, with ex- pornographer and property developer Richard Desmond. Following the meeting, the then housing minister unlawfully pushed through approval for a major housing scheme for the businessman ahead of a new charge coming in.

A judicial review, which Jenrick didn’t contest, found the decision unlawful due to “apparent bias”. Just the man to tell the world how above board his boss’s finances are!

Multi-million heir
Meanwhile, amid speculation he may have used his £5m gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, supposedly for personal security, to buy and renovate an expensive house in Surrey, Farage told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on 23 June that he’s yet to spend any of it.

Later that morning, the Reform UK leader was interviewed by the BBC’s Sally Nugent, who asked how much of the £5m he’s spent on security so far.

“I’m not going to answer that,” Farage snapped, before Nugent pointed out he already said he hadn’t spent it – to which he huffed: “Fine, leave it at that, then.”

Mixed messages
But if Farage hasn’t actually spent any of Harborne’s cash, it only seems to make the situation even more curious. Back in October, Reform chairman Zia Yusuf revealed that parliamentary officials had downgraded Farage’s publicly funded security detail and said party donors had “stepped in to ensure, thankfully, that Nigel is well protected”. The Eye asked Reform why donors had to step in to ensure Farage’s security was shored up last year if he had an unused £5m in the bank for the purpose. Answer came there none.