Reform’s Russia problem

Nigel Farage has had better afternoons. Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, has just been sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in prison after admitting taking bribes to give pro-Russia interviews and speeches. The one-time Brexit party MEP is believed to have received up to £40,000 in total for helping Kremlin-friendly politicians in Ukraine. At the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Gill had abused his position and eroded ‘public confidence in democracy’. Oleg Voloshyn, once described by the US government as a ‘pawn’ of Russia’s secret service, gave the money on behalf of a ‘close friend’ of Vladimir Putin’s, Viktor Medvedchuk, who was the source of both the requests and cash.

For Reform, this whole sorry saga has been about as bad as it gets for an insurgent political party. In response to the sentencing, a spokesman said: ‘Mr Gill’s actions were reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable. We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received.’

The news comes barely a month after the Caerphilly by-election in which Labour and Plaid Cymru made much political hay out of the connections between Gill and his former staffer Llyr Powell, the Reform candidate. Senior figures within the party now hope that Gill’s brief stint as leader – 42 days in 2021 – will mean that the associations between the party and Moscow do not tar Farage’s brand. One senior source connected to Reform reacted to the sentencing by saying: ‘Good riddance.’

Russia has been a major Achilles’ heel for Reform during the past 18 months. The party’s momentum was checked during last year’s general election by old comments by Farage concerning the Russian President. The Reform leader has sought to shut down such criticism in recent weeks by giving an interview to Bloomberg in which he said the UK should shoot Russian jets down in Nato airspace. But today’s story will inevitably be seized upon by the government and opposition parties as they try to overturn the lead Reform has boasted in the polls since April.