Ben Habib, the former deputy leader of Reform UK who left the party after a publicly acrimonious fallout with Nigel Farage in November 2024, has made a series of serious and unverified allegations in a live interview – claiming that Christopher Harborne paid both Farage and Boris Johnson £1 million each to remove Brexit Party candidates from Conservative seats in the 2019 general election, and that the undisclosed £5 million Farage received in 2024 was not a personal security gift but payment for Farage to take over as Reform UK party leader and stand as the candidate in Clacton.
The allegations were made on Paul Thorpe LIVE and have been widely circulated on social media. They have not been independently verified, corroborated by documentary evidence, or responded to by Farage, Reform UK or Boris Johnson at the time of publication. Habib is a political opponent of Farage who left Reform UK after describing their relationship as irreparably broken. His allegations should be read in that specific context.
Who Ben Habib is – and why his relationship with Farage matters
Habib served as deputy leader of Reform UK from October 2023 until July 2024, and previously stood as a Reform candidate in Wellingborough, polling 21.5% at the general election. He resigned from the party in November 2024, citing “fundamental differences” over Brexit, immigration policy and what he described as the “undemocratic” structure of Reform UK under Farage’s leadership.
Farage’s response at the time was blunt: he told GB News that Habib had “attacked me more in public than the Labour Party” and had become “very bitter.”
Habib subsequently took over a small registered party called the Integrity Party, relaunched it as Advance UK in June 2025 and has since positioned it to the right of Reform UK on immigration – he is on record as supporting mass deportations and previously said migrants crossing the Channel whose boats were sinking should be left to “suffer the consequences.” The party has received support from Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk and won no seats in the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.
Habib has previously made public allegations about Farage’s relationship with Harborne, telling the Weekly Worker that Harborne “controlled” the Brexit Party through Farage.
What Habib alleges
Speaking on the Paul Thorpe LIVE show, Habib made the following specific claims:
On the 2019 election: Habib alleges that Harborne paid both Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson £1 million each as part of an arrangement under which Farage stood down Brexit Party candidates in 317 Conservative-held seats, effectively clearing the path for Johnson to win his 80-seat majority. Habib characterised this as “rigging the election in favour of Johnson.”
On the £5m gift: Habib alleges that the undisclosed £5 million Farage received from Harborne in 2024 – which Farage has described as a personal gift for his security – was in fact payment for Farage to take over as leader of Reform UK and stand as a candidate in Clacton.
On the total financial relationship: Habib claims Harborne has paid Farage at least £6 million personally – £1 million in 2019 and £5 million in 2024. He also claims Harborne gave the Brexit Party £14 million in total and that Harborne allegedly attempted to breach electoral law by hiding his identity to circumvent donation limits.
What is already established – and what is not
It is important to be precise about what is documented and what is alleged.
What is documented: In November 2019, Farage announced that the Brexit Party would stand down its candidates in 317 Conservative-held seats – a decision that was widely credited with helping Johnson secure his majority. At the time, Farage said the decision was made to prevent a hung parliament and to avoid splitting the Brexit vote. No evidence of payment for that decision was produced at the time or has been published since.
Christopher Harborne has given Farage and his parties more than £22 million in total, as we reported in our full investigation into Harborne’s background and his relationship with Reform UK. Harborne does operate under two identities – his British name and his Thai name Chakrit Sakunkrit – a fact confirmed through the Panama Papers. The Electoral Commission has previously investigated the Brexit Party’s donation arrangements.
Farage received £5 million from Harborne in 2024, did not declare it, and is currently under investigation by both the parliamentary standards commissioner and the Electoral Commission, as we reported in our full investigation of the standards probe.
What is alleged but not corroborated: The specific claim that Harborne paid Farage and Johnson £1 million each for the 2019 candidate withdrawal. The specific claim that the 2024 gift was payment for political services rather than personal security. The specific claim that Harborne attempted to disguise his identity to breach Electoral Commission donation caps. These are Habib’s allegations. They are serious. They have not been verified.
The political context of the allegations
Habib’s allegations come at a moment of maximum political pressure on Farage over the Harborne relationship. As we have reported over the past two weeks, the £5 million undisclosed gift has generated two formal investigations, a possible by-election threat in Clacton, five refused broadcast interviews and a question Farage dismissed at his own Havering victory press conference with “we’ll talk about that any other time you like.”
The specific allegation about the 2019 election – that the Brexit Party’s candidate withdrawal was a paid arrangement rather than a political calculation – would, if true, represent something considerably more serious than a failure to declare a personal gift. It would represent a financial arrangement between two political parties to affect the outcome of a general election. That is the territory of electoral law, not parliamentary standards procedure.
Boris Johnson, whose 80-seat majority is the specific outcome Habib’s allegation relates to, is not a sitting MP and has not held public office since leaving Downing Street in 2022. He received significant financial support from various sources after leaving office – including, according to published reports, support from individuals connected to the wider Harborne network.
What Reform UK, Farage and Johnson say
Reform UK, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson have not responded to requests for comment on Habib’s specific allegations at the time of publication.
Farage’s consistent position on the Harborne gift is that it was personal and unconditional. His position on the 2019 candidate withdrawal is that it was a political decision made in the national interest to secure Brexit. He has not previously been asked publicly about the specific allegation that the withdrawal was financially motivated.
A note on sourcing
These allegations come from a single named source – Ben Habib – who is a political opponent of Farage with a documented personal grievance against him and a clear political interest in damaging Reform UK’s reputation at a moment when the party has just achieved its most successful electoral result. That does not make the allegations false. It does mean they require corroboration before they can be treated as established fact, and we will update this article if and when that corroboration is sought or provided.
You can watch the clip below:
