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Labour reports Farage hack claim to police and cyber officials after leader fails to act
Labour has referred Nigel Farage's claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors to the Metropolitan Police and the National Cyber Security Centre. The move follows Farage's failure to report the alleged breach himself, amid questions over a £5m donation from a cryptocurrency billionaire.
Labour has reported the alleged hacking of Nigel Farage's phone to police and government cybersecurity officials after the Reform UK leader failed to do so himself. The Labour chair, Anna Turley, asked the Metropolitan Police and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to investigate Farage's claims that his phone was compromised by hostile actors linked to Russia.
Coverage Comparison
The story has been covered extensively by The Guardian, which reported that Labour's action came after Farage was given 24 hours to report the claim or have the party do it for him. According to The Guardian, Turley wrote to Farage saying it was "in the public and national interest" to ensure a suspected overseas hack of a senior politician's phone was properly investigated. Another Guardian report noted that a senior Reform UK figure, Danny Kruger, refused to call on Farage to hand evidence to security services, saying he was not privy to the details of the investigation.
Key Claims
Farage's hacking claim: Farage alleges his phone was hacked by foreign state actors, most likely linked to Russia, who leaked information about a £5m gift from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Labour's action: Labour chair Anna Turley contacted the NCSC and the Metropolitan Police to ensure the allegations are investigated, after Reform said it had reported the matter to "the relevant authorities" without specifying which ones.
The £5m donation: Farage received £5m from Harborne in 2024, shortly before announcing he would stand for parliament. Farage initially said the gift was for his security but later described it as a reward for his Brexit campaigning.
Reform's suggestion: Reform UK has suggested that The Guardian's revelation about the donation originated from material leaked from Farage's phone, email, and bank accounts.
Kruger's stance: Reform's lead on preparing for government, Danny Kruger, said he could not comment on whether Farage had reported the matter, calling it a "private matter" and adding that "there does need to be some kind of investigation."
Perspectives
Labour and the Conservatives have stressed the threat to national security posed by the Russian state, with Turley calling the alleged crime "incredibly serious" with "potential wider implications for Britain's national security, the integrity of our politics and public confidence in our democratic system."
Reform UK has maintained that the matter was reported to the relevant authorities and has not provided further details. Farage's spokesperson has not responded to questions about whom he reported the alleged hack to or whether evidence was handed over.
The Guardian, in a statement, described Farage's hacking claim as "an attempt to deflect attention from legitimate scrutiny of his financial affairs," adding that Farage was "once again hiding behind claims of foreign interference."
The full details of the alleged hack and the investigation remain unclear, and no evidence has been provided to support the claim. The NCSC and the Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment but have not yet responded.
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimNigel Farage claims his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors.