Armed forces minister Al Carns called for Nigel Farage\u2019s party to launch a thorough investigation after its former leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, was sentenced to ten-and-a-half years in jail.<\/p>\n
Mr Carns, who was a colonel in the Royal Marines, said Gill\u2019s actions were \u201ca disgrace\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI just think wherever we see Russian influence in UK politics, it\u2019s got to be weeded out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fought for this country for 24 years, across all over the world and I\u2019ve seen my friends be injured or killed in combat.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo take money from an autocratic regime that is causing thousands of casualties on an unprecedented scale is unacceptable, and we must weed it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gill (52) of Anglesey, north Wales, agreed to make pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament for cash.<\/p>\n
\nThis is a time for serious government. We\u2019ve got serious risks to the country<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
He pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery on dates between December 6 2018 and July 18 2019.<\/p>\n
Mr Carns, who also referred to Mr Farage\u2019s 2014 statement that he admired Russian president Putin, said: \u201cThis is a time for serious government. We\u2019ve got serious risks to the country, we\u2019ve seen the [spy ship] Yantar just up north off our coast just recently, and we\u2019ve got to have serious politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo find out someone is taking bribes from the Russian state is … despicable.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I genuinely believe that we need Reform to conduct a full investigation to winkle out, weed out any Russian influence whatsoever in the party.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to a question about the current world leader he admires the most in a 2014 GQ interview, Mr Farage said: \u201cAs an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Carns said: \u201cNigel Farage must urgently initiate an independent investigation into every inch of Reform UK\u2019s party structures, membership, donors, and representatives, to give the public a cast-iron guarantee that any remaining pro-Russian links have been removed from his party.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe must leave no stone unturned in this investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Security minister Dan Jarvis said: \u201cNathan Gill used his privileged position in public office to advance the malign interests of Russia over those of the UK in exchange for money – that is a betrayal of our country, our people, and our national security.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will now face the consequences of his actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week, I announced comprehensive action to disrupt and deter interference from foreign states. Russia\u2019s hostility and attempts to weaken our democracy will continue to be met by the full force of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called for a \u201cfull investigation into Russian interference in our politics\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cA traitor was at the very top of Reform UK, aiding and abetting a foreign adversary.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigel Farage and his party are a danger to national security.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Reform UK spokesman said: \u201cMr Gill\u2019s actions were reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable. We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armed forces minister Al Carns called for Nigel Farage\u2019s party to launch a thorough investigation after its former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,20567,550,7,8,2263,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-194171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nigel-farage","19":"tag-russia","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-vladimir-putin","23":"tag-world","24":"tag-world-news","25":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115592830998703632","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}