Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, received £270,000 from Direct Bullion, a gold marketing company for which he serves as a brand ambassador. This payment, recorded in his latest entry in parliament's register of interests published on Tuesday, is his single largest payment as an MP and double his fee from 2025.
Payment details and timing
The £270,000 payment was received in May. Farage has previously faced criticism over his £400,000-a-year second job promoting the idea that people should buy physical gold for their pension pots through Direct Bullion. The latest sum dwarfs his earlier earnings from the company: £91,200 for four hours' work in January 2025 and £135,000 for an estimated 12 hours of work over nine months later that year.
Political backlash
Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, condemned the payment, stating: "He pretends to be on the side of ordinary working people but in truth he’s just in it for himself and will sell his time to the highest bidder. He should be focused on putting more pounds back in his Clacton constituents’ pockets rather than racking up payments off the back of gold sales."
Ongoing scrutiny over other payments
Farage continues to face pressure over a separate £5m gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto investor who has donated millions to Reform UK. The Guardian revealed the gift in April. Farage initially claimed it was intended for personal security costs, then said it was a reward for Brexit, and has argued it was a gift not requiring declaration under rules for interests before election. He is now under formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog.
Other declared income
The latest register also shows Farage received £18,402 for about six hours of presenting for GB News in June. Other declared work includes speaking engagements for Imperial Independent Media, a US consulting firm, and social media work for Google and X. Lee Anderson, another Reform MP and party chair, also registered social media work for X, as did Richard Tice, Reform's business, trade and energy spokesperson.
A Reform spokesperson said: "As has previously been reported and declared Nigel Farage is a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion."
