Nigel Farachi, leader of the British Reform Party, is facing a complaint from the British Parliament ' s Standards Agency because of his encryption policy-related contacts. The controversy centred on whether, after accepting the support of a financier with significant interests in Tether, he was still unduly lobbying with the British Central Bank for a stabilization currency and a digital pound sterling policy.

The complaint points to a central bank meeting.

According to The Guardian, Labour Member Phil Brickell had asked Daniel Greenberg, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, to investigate whether Farachi had violated the rules of conduct of parliamentarians. The British Parliament has provided that members of Parliament may not lobby ministers or public officials over the past 12 months on behalf of persons who have provided funds to them.

At the heart of the controversy was a private meeting in September 2025. Farachi was reported to have met with Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the British Central Bank, and urged the Central Bank to give up pushing the British Central Bank's digital currency, known as the “digital pound sterling”. Farachi had previously publicly opposed the plan.

Farachi has also repeatedly criticized the proposed British currency stabilization measures. The report mentions that last week the British Central Bank removed the £20,000 ceiling for individual holding of the SDS, a limitation that Farachi had long opposed. Brickell stated that Farachi publicly supported Tether before and after the meeting and claimed that he had contributed to the British Central Bank slowing its position.

The financier's interest in Tether's equity relationship

The complaint also refers to Farachi ' s financial transactions with British businessman Christopher Harborne. Harborne, based in Thailand, holds 12 per cent of Tether's shares and is an important investor in the company.

Farachi reportedly received Pound5 million from Harborne prior to his election in July 2024. Since he had not officially announced his candidacy at the time, this sum was not declared to Parliament. Since then, Harborne has provided two additional £25 million in political donations to Farachi in January 2025 and February 2026 for travel to the United States and the Chagos Archipelago.

  • Harborne holds Tether 12% shares
  • Farachi was charged £5 million.
  • The reformist party allegedly received an additional 15 million pounds in support during the same period.

During the same period, Harborne allegedly provided Pound15 million to the Reform Party. Daniel Greenberg is also currently conducting another independent inquiry into whether the earlier Pound5 million should be declared.

The British Central Bank did not publish the minutes of the meeting.

Another Labour Member of Parliament, Joe Powell, has written to the Governor of the British Central Bank to ask for details of the meeting. In his view, important decisions concerning the British financial system, including the numerical pound sterling, should not be driven by private contacts that could benefit individual investors.

The BCB responded that the September 2025 meeting was part of its regular engagement arrangements with politicians. The Central Bank acknowledged that Bailey and Farachi had different views on the question of the digital pound, but did not publish the minutes of the meeting or disclose more details.

Both Farachi and Harborne indicated that the financial support was not subject to exchange conditions. The reformist party denied the charges and called them “purely absurd”. The incident, however, brought back to the fore British currency stability regulation, the digital pound policy and the relationship between political funding and encryption interests.