Nigel Farage used nearly £33,000 of donor cash to help support Donald Trump in the US election - months before he complained about Labour activists volunteering for Kamala Harris.

After he was elected as an MP, the Reform UK leader missed the King’s Speech to travel to Wisconsin in July to attend the Republican National Convention (RNC).

He publicly admitted his trip was intended “to support my friend Donald Trump at the RNC”, adding “we all have a duty to support and defend democracy.”

It comes after Mr Trump’s campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), calling for an investigation into whether around 100 UK Labour Party activists and staff volunteering for Ms Harris’ campaign was a breach of US election rules.

Under federal law, the travel expenses of a volunteer are considered a donation to the party they work for if they exceed $1,000 (£770) in one election.

When it was first revealed that Labour activists had been volunteering for Ms Harris, Mr Farage said: “This is direct election interference by the governing Labour Party, and particularly stupid if Trump wins. Who is paying for all of this?”

Mr Farage’s trip was paid for by Christopher Harborne, a British tech investor based in Thailand.

Mr Farage declared on his register of members interests that the flights and accommodation for the trip came to £32,836.

Also see yesterday’s discussion of Trump’s complaint.

    • frazorth
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      11 minutes ago

      I don’t understand how anyone can support Farage

      Mr Farage’s trip was paid for by Christopher Harborne, a British tech investor based in Thailand.

      It’s a guy who wants to interfere with international politics. He probably doesn’t believe in Farages politics, but he doesn’t live here so he doesn’t care. He just knows that Farage would give him a sweet deal, or the Tories would to try and gain his vote. £30k is the cost of making another million.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Harborne

      In November 2022, Harborne donated £1 million to The Office of Boris Johnson Ltd, one of the biggest donations ever made to an individual British politician.[

      He’s scum.

    • Infernal_pizza@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Well you see there was a picture of him in the pub once so obviously that means he’s just a working man like the rest of us. Also don’t like them bloody foreigners coming over here and taking our jobs 😡

    • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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      3 hours ago

      Would have loved if someone had thrown a milkshake at Trump while he was working the McDonald’s drive through, then these two friends could have shared everything!