Lawmaker’s bribery conviction sparks UK probe into foreign financial interference
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
LONDON (AP) — Britain on Tuesday launched a review into foreign financial interference in U.K. politics, after a British former member of the European Parliament was jailed for taking Russian bribes.
Nathan Gill was sentenced last month to more than 10 years in prison for making statements sympathetic to Russia in exchange for money.
Gill sat in the European Union legislature for two hard-right parties led by Nigel Farage, UKIP and the Brexit Party. After Britain’s exit from the EU in 2020 he became the leader in Wales of Farage’s current party, Reform UK. He is no longer a party member.
Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Steve Reed, who is responsible for elections, said Gill’s conduct “is a stain on our democracy. The independent review will work to remove that stain.”
He said the review will be led by former senior civil servant Philip Rycroft. It will look at the political financing laws, the rules governing political parties and whether there are enough safeguards against illicit money, including when it comes to cryptocurrency donations.
Reed said it would look at “all potential sources of malign foreign financial interference,” including China. Rycroft is due to submit his report by the end of March.
It will not look at claims of foreign interference in Britain’s 2016 referendum on EU membership, a claim made by some opponents of Brexit.
British government and intelligence officials have increasingly warned that British democracy is vulnerable to manipulation.
In November, security service MI5 warned lawmakers that Chinese spies were actively reaching out to “recruit and cultivate” them through headhunters or cover companies. MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum said Beijing was behind “efforts to interfere covertly in U.K. public life.”