Report phone hack' to police or I will do it for you, Labour chair tells Farage

Anna Turley, Labour chair, demanded that Nigel Farage report within 24 hours a claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors, or she would ensure the report was made. She said a suspected overseas hack of a senior politician’s phone by a hostile state should be properly investigated in the public and national interest. Farage’s claim, published in a Sunday newspaper, has faced skepticism. Turley asked Farage to explain why Christopher Harborne gave him a £5m gift ahead of the 2024 general election. Farage’s explanations shifted between paying for security and rewarding Brexit campaigning. Reform said the incident was reported to relevant authorities. Farage reportedly handed his phone to counter-espionage experts, who allegedly found malware compromising his phone, email, and bank accounts.

"The Labour chair has given Nigel Farage 24 hours to report to security services the claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors or the party will do it for him. In a letter to the Reform UK leader, Anna Turley said it was in the public and national interest to ensure that a suspected overseas hack of a senior politician's phone by a hostile state was properly investigated."

"Scepticism has continued over Farage's claim, made in a Sunday newspaper, that foreign state actors, most likely serving Moscow, had accessed his phone and leaked information about the 5m gift he received from Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency billionaire based in Thailand. In her letter, Turley asked Farage, who has largely avoided media scrutiny in recent weeks, to set out why Harborne gave him the money, in the run-up to the 2024 general election."

"Farage initially said the sum was intended to pay for his security, but later characterised it as a reward for his campaigning on Brexit. According to an account given via Reform sources to the Mail on Sunday, after the Guardian revealed details of the undeclared 5m gift, Farage became suspicious about how the information emerged, and handed over his phone for forensic analysis by counter-espionage experts."

"This supposedly concluded that a malware attack on the phone, most likely originating from Russia, had compromised his phone, email and bank accounts. Anna Turley, the Labour chair, arrives at Downing Street for a cabinet meeting. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images If it had happened, Turley wrote to Farage, this would constitute a serious cybercrime and a potential hostile-state operation directed at the leader of a British political party."

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