Russia is seeking to bribe Britain’s MPs to undermine our democracy, police warned today, as the former head of the Reform UK party in Wales was jailed for taking cash to back Putin’s allies.
Nathan Gill was imprisoned for over 10 years today after receiving tens of thousands of pounds in bribes to give speeches, interviews, and organise events supporting Russian activity in Ukraine.
The former leader of the Reform UK party in Wales was told to ‘recruit’ other British MPs and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to attend pro-Russia events, including ‘a leading figure in the Brexit Party’, which was led by Nigel Farage at the time.
The 52-year-old was promised he would be ‘rewarded’ with a ‘sack of paper gifts’ thought to contain money, if he would bring his ‘friends’ into the Brexit Party, which is now known as Reform UK.
It can now be revealed that four other pro-Brexit MEPs are under investigation in connection with the scandal.
Scotland Yard established that Mr Farage is not one of the politicians being scrutinised, and there is no indication of any misconduct by the Reform leader.
As Gill was sentenced, Head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command Dominic Murphy warned that Moscow’s attempts to influence British politics are ‘widespread’.
He suggested Russia is seeking to bribe and influence MPs to subvert our democracy, saying: ‘This is the first type of case we’ve seen like this, but what we’ve seen in this case does raise questions.
‘I think we’re beginning to see a course of conduct in those states that wish to do us harm, about their influence over society, politicians and politics more broadly.’
In an unprecedented prosecution, Gill pocketed about £5,000 a time to read out parliamentary addresses urging Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow and pursue peace after Russia invaded Crimea and sent paramilitary units into the Donbas region.
He delivered scripted media statements criticising Ukrainian President Zelensky and supporting Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, a personal friend of President Putin.
Medvedchuk, who was later accused of treason in Ukraine and trying to rob national resources, is deemed so close to Putin that the Russian leader is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter.
Gill was paid thousands to give TV interviews in favour of the key Putin ally and to deliver speeches in the European Parliament, where he acted as an MEP for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2014 to 2020.
The father-of-five was the leader of UKIP in Wales from 2014 to 2016 before it became Reform UK Wales in 2021.
The practising Mormon, who lives on the island of Anglesey with his family, represented North Wales in the National Assembly, now the Welsh Parliament, between 2016 and 2017.
The Old Bailey heard today that Gill ‘offers no excuse for his venal compromise’ after he accepted at least £30,000 in bribes from Oleg Voloshyn, a former Ukrainian politician, to give pro-Russian statements.
Now we have Reform traitors, and a motley crew of chancers, conmen, and the far right, and now Nigel Farage has been accused by his classmates of singing terrible anti-semetic songs during his time at Dulwich College in south London, where his peers claim that he made pro-Hitler remarks and quipped about gas chambers.
Now he’s been asked to explain himself after he’s been accused of making racist and anti-semetic comments by several former classmates.
Bafta- and Emmy-winning director and producer Peter Ettedgui, who was 13-at-the time, told The Guardian that the Reform UK leader would tell him “Hitler was right”, or “Gas them” before adding a hiss to replicate the sound of the gas chambers.
Farage might be older now, and perhaps a tad more mature, but as they say, ‘A Leopard never changes its spots.’
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 