Nigel Farage is facing calls to investigate and root out links between Reform UK and Russia after one of his party’s former senior politicians was jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes from a pro-Kremlin agent.
Keir Starmer said Farage had questions to answer about how this happened in his party. Nathan Gill, a former leader of Reform UK in Wales, admitted taking payments to make statements in favour of Russia.
The sentencing came at the end of a damaging week for Farage in which the Guardian revealed accusations that he engaged in racist chants and comments while at school more than 40 years ago, which he denies.
Reform UK remains about 10 points ahead in opinion polls, but Labour believes the party is vulnerable to criticism that Farage and his allies have been too pro-Russia, with the Gill case proving that a paid pro-Kremlin propagandist was allowed to rise to become a senior leader.
Police believe Gill received the equivalent of at least £30,000 and could have got even more from Oleg Voloshyn, a former Ukrainian MP and alleged Russian asset. The offences took place when Gill was an MEP in 2018-19, having been elected as one of the Ukip group led by Farage, and later joining the Brexit party.
Voloshyn remains under investigation and wanted for high treason in Ukraine but is now believed to be in Moscow.
The political fallout from the case also appeared to widen on Friday as it emerged Gill had been paid to arrange for other Brexit party and former Ukip MEPs to make pro-Russia statements, without their awareness.
The statements by Gill in the European parliament and on 112 Ukraine, a pro-Russian TV channel, were designed to benefit the Kremlin’s narrative on Ukraine in the period before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.
A sentencing note from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) indicated that four other MEPs who had been in Ukip with Gill made interventions, after he was promised bribes from Voloshyn to arrange for them to make statements. These include Steven Woolfe, William Dartmouth, Jonathan Arnott and Jonathan Bullock.
A fifth, David Coburn, who had been in Ukip and was the party’s leader in Scotland at one point, was also mentioned in WhatsApp messages between Voloshyn and Gill. None of them were found by investigators to have received money themselves.
Voloshyn repeatedly passed on praise for Gill’s work from Viktor Medvedchuk, a loyal ally and friend of Vladimir Putin for decades linked to the pro-Russian 112 Ukraine channel.
At one point, after the appearances of Gill’s fellow Eurosceptic British MEPs on the channel, Voloshyn messaged Gill on WhatsApp to say: “V asked to pass you his gratitude. He literally said it was ‘awesome’. He even boasted with those MEP comments to his friend you know where and that person was impressed.”
Farage said Gill was a single “bad apple” after Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery. On the day of the sentencing, Reform UK said Gill’s actions were “reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable” and the party was “glad that justice has been served”.
However, Labour called on Farage to “leave no stone unturned” in reviewing “every inch” of Reform UK’s party structures, membership, party donors and representatives, to ensure any remaining pro-Russian links were rooted out.
Starmer told the BBC: “I think it begs a very important question, because this is a long prison sentence for pro-Russian bribes, and I think that that demands that Nigel Farage investigate how that happened within his party, and, equally importantly, what other links there are between his party and Russia.
“He should set up an inquiry, an investigation into his own party. How did that happen on his watch, in his party, and what other links are there between his party and Russia?”
Hitting back, Farage attempted to deflect the story on to Labour, saying: “The prime minister needs to urgently investigate the links with the Chinese Communist party within the Labour party.
“Spies have been discovered donating to Labour MPs and there has been the mysterious collapse of a recent spy trial. Perhaps he needs to look closer to home.”
The Conservatives said Farage must “come clean on the nature of his relationship with Gill and clearly set out if others in his party were ever involved”, while the Liberal Democrats launched new political attack ads showing the Reform UK leader in Putin’s pocket.
Investigators who were taken by surprise by Gill’s guilty plea in September say he has given no explanation of his motivation but believe he was largely driven by financial need.
Sentencing Gill at the Old Bailey in London, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said he had betrayed the trust placed in him by the public.
“When you say what someone has paid you to say, you are not speaking with sincerity. If it were your genuine opinion, you would not need to be paid for saying it,” she said.
Before sentencing at the Old Bailey, Gill was greeted on arrival by Ukrainians and British trade unionists chanting: “What about Farage?”
Police have not interviewed Farage, unlike some of his former colleagues and aides who helped the authorities voluntarily. Arnott has confirmed to the Guardian that police interviewed him, while another Brexit party MEP, Alex Phillips, said she had voluntarily gone to speak to the police when she learned of the investigation into Gill. The CPS note states Gill had promised to his handler Voloshyn that he would “get Alex [Phillips]” to speak.
The CPS also released selected WhatsApp messages between Voloshyn and Gill that included references to Arnott and Coburn.
Both visited Ukraine with Gill on an October 2018 trip, making statements on the 112 Ukraine channel. Weeks later they made statements during a debate on Ukraine in the European parliament after Gill spoke.
Arnott has rejected any suggestion that he had links to Russia or was acting in its interests. Attempts have been made to contact Coburn.
The judge said Gill had enlisted MEPs representing the north-east, north-west and south-west of England to give interviews to 112 Ukraine, for which he received €5,000 (£4,400).
“I must make it clear that the case has not been presented on the basis that those individuals knew how you were acting, namely that you had been promised altogether €5,000 for it,” said the judge, who noted that Voloshyn had described Gill’s work as “outstanding”.
WhatsApp messages between Gill and Voloshyn were recovered after the British politician was stopped at Manchester airport in September 2021. Gill said he was going to Russia to act as an observer in elections to the Duma, according to police.
Dominic Murphy, the head of the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, told reporters that the messages used coded language at first – with talk of “xmas presents” and “gifts” – but it was clear that Gill’s collaboration eventually became a “regular habit”, with Voloshyn making comments such as: “I’ll get you 5k.”
Footage of Gill being questioned by police, in which he repeatedly answers “no comment”, has been released by the Met. Police also seized €5,000 in cash and thousands of dollars from Gill’s home but say they do not know what he did with the entire amount of bribes he received.
In an emailed response to the Guardian after Gill’s sentencing, Voloshyn said he was “astonished” to hear the verdict. He said he found it “totally unfair” as he said neither he nor Gill had participated in any conspiracy targeted against the legislation and security of the UK.
