Farage's Tether Ties Trip a Lobbying Alarm in Westminster 🏛️

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been reported to Parliament's standards watchdog over allegations that he lobbied the Bank of England on cryptocurrency policy in a way that could benefit his biggest donor, a major investor in stablecoin issuer Tether. Labour MP Phil Brickell, who chairs the parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, asked Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg to examine Farage's dealings with the central bank. Brickell filed the complaint on July 2, reported The Guardian.

Parliamentary rules bar MPs from approaching officials or ministers on behalf of people who pay them for 12 months after such a payment. The restriction was doubled from 6 to 12 months in March 2023, after former minister Owen Paterson resigned in 2021. "Before meeting the governor of the Bank of England, Farage openly championed Tether, criticised proposed restrictions on stablecoins and vowed to challenge the Bank's approach," Brickell told the Guardian, adding that Farage "has since claimed credit for persuading the Bank to soften its position."

The complaint centers on a private meeting in September 2025 at which Farage reportedly urged Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey to scrap plans for a central bank digital currency, or "Britcoin," an idea Farage has said he would go to prison to block. Roughly nine months later, the Bank dropped a proposed £20,000 ($26,700) cap on individual stablecoin holdings in favor of a £40 billion ($53.4 billion) issuance ceiling.

Farage reportedly accepted a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift from donor Christopher Harborne before the July 2024 general election, when he had not yet announced plans to run for Parliament. He also received two £25,000 donations from Harborne in January 2025 and February 2026, while Reform UK received a further £15 million from the same donor. Greenberg is already examining whether the original gift should have been declared, according to the BBC.

Harborne is a British, Thailand-based billionaire who holds a 12% stake in Tether's USDT issuer, Tether. He was ranked sixth on the Sunday Times Rich List published on Friday, with an estimated fortune of about $24.4 billion (£18.2 billion), most of which is tied to the Tether holding.

Joe Powell, a second Labour MP, has written to Bailey to request details of the meeting, arguing that "Decisions relating to the UK's financial system, including those involving bank digital currencies, must be made in the public interest and on the basis of rigorous, independent assessment, not shaped behind closed doors to benefit individual financiers." Brickell said the case turns on whether an MP "who has received millions from one individual" should advance policies that could lift the value of that donor's investments.