Robert Jenrick says questions about £5m donation to Farage are legitimate

Robert Jenrick has said it is “legitimate” for the media to ask questions about Nigel Farage’s £5m personal donation from a cryptocurrency billionaire, just days after the Reform UK leader told an interviewer it was “none of your business”. Jenrick, who is Reform’s shadow chancellor, said voters on the doorstep were not asking about the money given to Farage by the Thailand-based British crypto investor Christopher Harborne. However, he acknowledged it was not unreasonable for the media to have questions about the £5m, in contrast to Farage’s claim earlier this week that it was a private matter. At the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference, asked by the host, Sophy Ridge, a Sky News presenter, whether Farage was right to say people did not care about it, Jenrick replied: “I’ve knocked on a lot of doors, trust me, in the course of the May local elections, the byelection, and in my own constituency, and I have to say, in all sincerity, not a single person has raised that question with me. “It doesn’t mean that it’s not a legitimate question for the media to ask, but it is not one that, in my experience, is on the tip of the tongue of people across the country.” He added: “But let me answer the question head on. If you ask about influence, there is no donor influencing Reform’s agenda. If you are saying Reform should have a policy on crypto, we should do, it is a significant growth opportunity. …