Thread by @karolcummins

‼️Nigel Farage’s funding secrets revealed

📌Channel 4 News investigation reveals how millionaire Arron Banks spent approximately £450,000 on Nigel Farage to fund lavish lifestyle the year following the EU referendum in summer 2016.
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

An investigation by Channel 4 News reveals:

* Mr Banks, through one of his companies, rented exclusive £4.4m Chelsea home for Mr Farage

* Gifts included furniture, council tax, water & electricity bills

* Banks provided a £30k car & £20k for a driver

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌Banks also leased private office for £1,500 a month and paid Mr Farage’s personal assistant

📌Hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent promoting “Brand Farage” in America
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

A company owned by Mr Banks, called Rock Services Ltd, leased a £4.4m three-bedroom Chelsea home with a garage for Mr Farage at an estimated rent of £13,000 a month in summer 2016.

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌Mr Banks also bought furniture and fittings for the house, including crockery, chairs and bathroom accessories and even even a shower curtain.

📌Mr Farage was also provided with a Land Rover Discovery, valued at £32,300, for his use.

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

Mr Banks paid £20,000 for a close protection driver and sought to raise a further £130,000 from unnamed supporters to cover Mr Farage’s security detail.
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌Invoices, emails and other documents lay bare Mr Farage’s financial reliance on Arron Banks to fund his lavish lifestyle after he announced he was standing down as UKIP leader following the referendum.
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌They further reveal that Mr Banks funded a private office space for Mr Farage at 40 Great Smith Street in Westminster, and paid the salary of a personal assistant.

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌The documents reveal that Mr Banks, through his companies, organised and funded multiple visits to the United States in the year following the Brexit vote.

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌In July 2016, Mr Banks flew Mr Farage business class to Cleveland, Ohio to attend the Republican National Convention.

CNN Report 7/21/16:
cnn.com/2016/07/18/pol…

📌Mr Banks, through Southern Rock, paid an American lobbying firm Goddard Gunster £64,064 for a “Nigel Farage Brexit Policy Luncheon”.

📌Mr Banks paid an American strategist, Gerry Gunster, through his company Goddard Gunster, to organise the event.

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌This included paying Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson £11,305.41 to interview Mr Farage at the event.

📌At the RNC, Mr Farage met Republican Senator Bob Corker and John Bolton, currently serving as Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor.

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

The following month Mr Farage, Mr Banks and his associate Andy Wigmore flew to Jackson, Mississippi where they were hosted by the Governor Phil Bryant and first introduced to Donald Trump.
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌How Donald Trump and Nigel Farage met in Mississippi
mississippitoday.org/2016/11/15/how…

📌Inside the ‘Brexit Boys’ Data Project at Ole Miss - Cambridge Analytica
m.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/jun/…

📌Gov. Phil Bryant introduced Brexit firm with Cambridge Analytica link to Ole Miss
clarionledger.com/story/news/pol…

📌Mr Farage also addressed a Trump rally, the first British politician to do so.

📌In Autumn 2016, Rock Services arranged for Mr Farage and Mr Wigmore to travel to America on multiple occasions, including visits to St Louis, Missouri. #StLouis
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌The pair also flew to Las Vegas for the presidential debates, and stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel.

📌Mr Banks, Mr Wigmore and Mr Farage also travelled to New York for election night in November 2016 and stayed at the luxurious Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌Mr Farage was the first British politician to meet the president elect where he was photographed in front of a gold lift at Trump Tower.

📌At Trump’s inauguration, emails suggest Mr Banks paid more than £15,000 to fly Nigel Farage to and from Washington, approximately £1000 on a room at the plush Mayflower Hotel.

channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

📌Invoices show Goddard Gunster billed £108,684 for a lavish party in Farage’s honour at the Hay-Adams Hotel.
channel4.com/news/nigel-far…

@threadreaderapp unroll please and thank you.