The Guardian reports that a £5m gift given to Nigel Farage by the cryptocurrency billionaire and Reform UK donor Christopher Harborne was flagged to the National Crime Agency (NCA) by bankers who feared it might involve laundered money. The disclosure intensifies pressure on the Reform UK leader, who is already awaiting a ruling from the parliamentary standards commissioner over whether his failure to declare the gift breached parliamentary rules. Hours after being asked to respond, Farage announced he would force a byelection in his seat of Clacton-on-Sea, a move critics dismissed as a "vanity project" and which other parties declined to contest.

Bankers raised a suspicious activity report (SAR) with the NCA on 16 May 2024, unable to trace the ultimate origin of the funds; such a report is not proof of wrongdoing but an invitation for the agency to examine the transaction. Attention has focused on the timing of the transfers, with sources saying part of the money arrived after Farage had publicly ruled himself out of standing for parliament and shortly before he declared his Clacton candidacy — details that sit awkwardly with an account in Michael Ashcroft's book suggesting his campaign was already being prepared. Farage says he did not know about the SAR, has "no reason to doubt" the source of the money, insists it was an unconditional gift he was not obliged to declare, and has accused the Guardian of obtaining information illegally. Harborne's lawyers say the money was received on 5 April 2024 and did not substantively answer the Guardian's questions.