Yet another new job for part-time MP Nigel Farage

Elon Musk may have decided Nigel Farage is not fit to lead Reform, but the Clacton MP is crying all the way to the bank after revealing new details of his ever-growing portfolio of extra-parliamentary business activities.

Farage’s latest update to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests – which keeps track of MPs’ outside earnings and gifts they receive – belatedly declares his role as brand ambassador for Direct Bullion, an online gold trading firm.

Farage is the star feature on the firm’s website, which says: “Nigel believes in gold from Direct Bullion because… gold is VAT Free; UK gold coins are capital gains tax-free for UK residents.”

It has paid Farage £189,300, forming the bulk of the £247,487 in additional pay declared by him in a January 6 update to the register. Farage says he does only four hours a month’s work for the company and says that the payment “includes payment for work undertaken prior to my election”.

The declaration follows a pattern of being reported well outside the 28-day rule for the registration of new outside interests and means Farage has now declared an extraordinary £567,000 of additional payments since becoming an MP last July.

The payouts also include £42,076 for 20 hours of work for GB News in November as well as Cameo video recordings for the company Baron App which earned him £14,451. Farage also bagging a free trip to Manhattan worth £4,361 from The New York Young Republicans Club. He has already declared payments from Telegraph Media Group, Facebook, X Corp, and Google.

With Musk now no longer a likely source of funds for Reform, perhaps its leader could top up the party’s coffers by dipping into his considerable personal wealth, all earned during hours when he could be working for the people of Clacton.