On 9th February there was a Parliamentary debate on foreign interference in UK politics in Westminster Hall. The debate came after a public petition calling for it received 114,000 signatures (many from Wales). The threshold is 100,000
There was a focus on the ex-leader of Reform in Wales Nathan Gill who is serving a jail term for accepting Russian bribes and Reform’s position on Russia
No Reform MP was present. However both Farage and Tice did manage to appear at a book launch on money laundering later in the week. The author former Farage aide George Cottrell underlined that the book was not a guide on how to launder money
Below is an extract from the speech made by LibDem MP Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury)
In November 2025, Nathan Gill, Reform UK’s erstwhile leader in Wales, was convicted of taking Russian bribes in return for favourable statements in the European Parliament. The hon. Member for Clacton, and leader of Reform UK, described his once close associate as a “bad apple”, but I suspect that the real rot is at the heart of the orchard.
The hon. Member for Clacton also made pro-Kremlin statements as a Member of the European Parliament, most notably in 2014, the year that Russia first invaded Ukraine, when he spoke of Europe poking
“the Russian bear with a stick”.
The previous year, he had met the Russian ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, at the Russian embassy in London. He later denied that that meeting took place, but a photograph of the pair betrays the falsehood.
Arron Banks also met Yakovenko on at least four occasions between 2015 and 2016, a period within which he donated at least £8 million to a campaign to leave the European Union. He has subsequently given conflicting accounts as to the origin of that donation. Banks is known to have explored the possibility of raising foreign donations through an email copied to Steve Bannon in 2015, and in 2025, Reform UK received a donation of £9 million from the co-owner of cryptocurrency Tether, Christopher Harborne. Tether is understood by the National Crime Agency to be used by the Kremlin to launder its money, evading international sanctions and keeping its war machine running.
The entire debate is here
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