Lead

The governor of the Bank of England has said he would have considered postponing a meeting with Nigel Farage last autumn had the central bank known that the Reform UK leader’s £5m gift from a crypto billionaire would become the subject of a parliamentary inquiry. Andrew Bailey told the Guardian that the undisclosed donation from Thailand-based investor Christopher Harborne would have been “a material fact” in deciding whether to hold the meeting.

Farage met Bailey in September to discuss the Bank’s plans for cryptocurrency regulation, months before the Guardian revealed the donation in April. Bailey said he did not regret the meeting but acknowledged that, with hindsight, he might have delayed it pending the investigation.

Coverage comparison

The Guardian’s reporting on the story spans two articles. One focuses on Bailey’s comments in an interview, emphasizing his assertion that he can “spot” and resist lobbying. The other, based on a letter seen by the Guardian, highlights the broader political crisis triggered by Farage’s failure to disclose the gift, including his decision to resign as an MP and call a byelection.

Both pieces agree on the core facts: the timing of the meeting, the nature of the donation, and Bailey’s defense of the Bank’s independence. The tone of the coverage is largely neutral, though one article characterizes Farage’s actions as “brazen” and refers to Harborne as a “billionaire” and the situation as one of “establishment” versus “people.”

Key claims

  • Bailey said he would have considered delaying the meeting with Farage had the Bank known about the parliamentary inquiry into the £5m gift from Christopher Harborne, who has made a large part of his estimated £18bn fortune from crypto.
  • Bailey stated that he is “able to spot” and resist lobbying and did not bow to Farage during the meeting.
  • Farage used the September meeting to demand that the Bank drop plans for a state-issued rival to a stablecoin issued by Tether, a company in which Harborne holds a significant stake. Harborne appears to make as much as £1bn a year from his shareholding in Tether.
  • Farage also said he urged Bailey to abandon plans for a cap on how many stablecoins individuals in the UK could own. The Bank eventually dropped the planned cap after a consultation.
  • Bailey defended the changes, saying it was easier to set caps on the total number of stablecoins rather than per individual.
  • Farage called for a “people versus the establishment” byelection after announcing he would resign as an MP amid a standards investigation into the payment and another into undeclared support from George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster.
  • The Conservatives, Labour, Restore Britain, the Greens and Liberal Democrats said they would boycott the byelection, accusing Farage of trying to divert attention from the financial allegations.
Farage has denied any wrongdoing and has said Harborne asked for nothing in return for providing two-thirds of the funding received by Reform and its predecessor, the Brexit Party. He later told a crypto conference that he asked Bailey directly whether the Bank was still progressing plans for a British central bank digital currency, and that Bailey answered in the affirmative. Farage said he would be “prepared to go to prison” to thwart the Bank’s plan, and claimed the digital currency would be part of a digital ID scheme, though this is not part of the proposals.