Friday 26 April 2019

Just who is financing Farage and his Brexit Party?

News that Nigel Farage’s Brexit party was the top-spending political campaign on Facebook in Britain last week as it ramped up a push for the support of over-40 voters in the European elections. leaves us to wonder where the money comes from
Widely perceived as a serious threat to Theresa May’s Conservatives, Farage’s new party spent £11,523 pushing its pro-Brexit messages on the UK’s most widely used social network, according to Facebook data — nearly twice as much as that of the main parties, Labour and the Tories.

The Guardian reports that

Nigel Farage has said he hopes his new Brexit party will be largely funded by small donations, and would not take any money from Arron Banks, the millionaire who bankrolled Ukip.
Speaking before the party’s launch on Friday, the former Ukip leader said: “In the first 10 days of the Brexit party, we’ve raised £750,000 in donations online, all in small sums of less than £500. I’ve never in my 25 years in British politics seen anything like it. And we’ve done that before we’ve even launched.”Leader of Nigel Farage's party resigns over anti-Islam messages
He added: “We haven’t asked
He added: “We haven’t asked Arron Banks for any money; he’s not going to give any money. He’s been very badly burned by what happened since the referendum, outrageous though it was,” he said, referring to questions over the source of the £8m that Banks donated to the pro-Brexit campaign.
Speaking on the Today programme, Farage took a swipe at his former party colleagues, saying that while there was “no difference between the Brexitparty and Ukip in terms of policy, in terms of personnel, there’s a vast difference,” and that Ukip has “allowed the far right to join it and effectively take it over and I’m afraid the brand is now tarnished”.

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