Monday, August 25, 2025
Farage's many jobs highlight need for more clarity on MPs' register of interests
The issue arises after Nigel Farage, who tops the list of high-earning MPs, was paid £280,000 by Direct Bullion, his second-highest set of earnings after the £402,000 he has earned from his work for GB News.
Direct Bullion, which was founded by Paul Withers, a former Royal Navy electronic warfare technician, encourages savers and investors to buy gold, and has been advertising on multiple channels.
The paper says that an archived version of the company's website, dating from after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, shows that it has advertised on TV news network RT, formerly known as Russia Today:
The Reform UK leader has filmed several promotional videos for Direct Bullion, which has offices in London, Florida and California, and operates on “slivering margins”, said Withers.
The company’s most recent set of accounts, covering the year to January 2024, shows assets of about £2.6m.
The entries in Farage’s parliamentary register of interests, while clear about the value of the payments from Direct Bullion, are less clear about the work he has done for the company, stating it is for an “estimated maximum” of four hours worked a month.
This lack of clarity raises questions for the Reform leader, say transparency campaigners.
“The public have a right to know how much time parliamentarians spend on second jobs, and how much they’re paid,” said Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International. “When MPs are vague about the terms of their outside employment, it prevents scrutiny of their finances, including whether these are genuinely commercial engagements or donations by another name.
“Labour has pledged to tighten the rules on moonlighting by MPs, which is often a distraction from their public duties. Until it does, those with second jobs could at least be clear about how much they’re being paid, when and for what work.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “The public deserves to know what [Farage is] really being paid for here.”
Reform did not respond to requests for a comment.
For Withers, the commercial deal has secured him enviable access to a man who many are tipping as a possible prime minister.
The paper adds that Farage has also earned £134,000 from a series of recordings for the video-greeting app Cameo, plus five-figure sums from Elon Musk’s X Corp, Google, the Telegraph group and Rupert Murdoch’s Australian media network News Pty:
Two five-figure sums totalling £60,000 appear from Thailand-based businessman and former supporter of Boris Johnson, Christopher Harborne – although only one of them has made its way on to the Electoral Commission’s parallel database.
‘Nigel is happy, we’re happy, and his constituents are happy because he can run Reform while doing it’
Farage has also endorsed a short-lived “community cashback” retailer called UK We Save, recording a video in which he said: “We are facing a cost of living crisis in the United Kingdom and I have decided to do something about it.” Explaining the concept – in which consumers bulk buy nappies to reduce costs – he added: “The more people that join, the cheaper they will be … click that link, it’s free to join. It’s going to save you a lot of money.”
The website has since been taken down but the group’s X page still exists – complete with a picture of the Reform leader as its banner. The parent company, Chaching Ltd, which is run by the business executive Christopher Sugrue, is still active, although its accounts are six months overdue. There is no reference to this work on Farage’s register, and he has previously said it was unpaid.
Farage's approach to being a part-time MP, while accumulating vast wealth, raises serious questions about whether constituents are being properly served by the present system, and whether MPs should be further constrained from taking on second jobs.
The paper says that an archived version of the company's website, dating from after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, shows that it has advertised on TV news network RT, formerly known as Russia Today:
The Reform UK leader has filmed several promotional videos for Direct Bullion, which has offices in London, Florida and California, and operates on “slivering margins”, said Withers.
The company’s most recent set of accounts, covering the year to January 2024, shows assets of about £2.6m.
The entries in Farage’s parliamentary register of interests, while clear about the value of the payments from Direct Bullion, are less clear about the work he has done for the company, stating it is for an “estimated maximum” of four hours worked a month.
This lack of clarity raises questions for the Reform leader, say transparency campaigners.
“The public have a right to know how much time parliamentarians spend on second jobs, and how much they’re paid,” said Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International. “When MPs are vague about the terms of their outside employment, it prevents scrutiny of their finances, including whether these are genuinely commercial engagements or donations by another name.
“Labour has pledged to tighten the rules on moonlighting by MPs, which is often a distraction from their public duties. Until it does, those with second jobs could at least be clear about how much they’re being paid, when and for what work.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “The public deserves to know what [Farage is] really being paid for here.”
Reform did not respond to requests for a comment.
For Withers, the commercial deal has secured him enviable access to a man who many are tipping as a possible prime minister.
The paper adds that Farage has also earned £134,000 from a series of recordings for the video-greeting app Cameo, plus five-figure sums from Elon Musk’s X Corp, Google, the Telegraph group and Rupert Murdoch’s Australian media network News Pty:
Two five-figure sums totalling £60,000 appear from Thailand-based businessman and former supporter of Boris Johnson, Christopher Harborne – although only one of them has made its way on to the Electoral Commission’s parallel database.
‘Nigel is happy, we’re happy, and his constituents are happy because he can run Reform while doing it’
Farage has also endorsed a short-lived “community cashback” retailer called UK We Save, recording a video in which he said: “We are facing a cost of living crisis in the United Kingdom and I have decided to do something about it.” Explaining the concept – in which consumers bulk buy nappies to reduce costs – he added: “The more people that join, the cheaper they will be … click that link, it’s free to join. It’s going to save you a lot of money.”
The website has since been taken down but the group’s X page still exists – complete with a picture of the Reform leader as its banner. The parent company, Chaching Ltd, which is run by the business executive Christopher Sugrue, is still active, although its accounts are six months overdue. There is no reference to this work on Farage’s register, and he has previously said it was unpaid.
Farage's approach to being a part-time MP, while accumulating vast wealth, raises serious questions about whether constituents are being properly served by the present system, and whether MPs should be further constrained from taking on second jobs.
