Millionaire insurance tycoon Arron Banks spent close to half a million pounds funding Nigel Farage's lavish lifestyle, according to the findings of a Channel 4 News investigation.
The investigation to be broadcast tonight reports that Rock Services Ltd, a company owned by Mr Banks, leased a £4.4m 3-bedroom Chelsea home with garage for Mr Farage at an estimated rent of £13,000 a month in the summer of 2016.
It is claimed Mr Banks also fitted and furnished the house, buying crockery, chairs and bathroom accessories and even a shower curtain for Mr Farage.
Former UKIP leader Farage - who now fronts the Brexit Party - was also said to have been handed a Land Rover Discovery, valued at £32,300, for his personal use.
Millionaire Arron Banks (left) with current Brexit party leader Nigel Farage. Mr Banks has reportedly been funding Mr Farage's lavish lifestyle since 2016 - providing him with a £4.4m Chelsea home over the summer and a £32,000 Land Rover Discovery with close protection driver (pictured together in 2014 after Mr Banks donated £1 million to UKIP, Mr Farage's former party)
Mr Banks, 53, 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, it is claimed.
Channel 4 News reports that it has seen invoices, emails and other documents which lay bare the extent of Nigel Farage's financial reliance on Arron Banks after he announced he was standing down as UKIP leader following the referendum in 2016. Mr Banks dismissed the claims as 'smears'.
The investigation also reported 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.
Mr Farage, 55, continued to serve as a member of the European Parliament representing South East England on a salary of €100,000 a year plus expenses.
The documents are said to reveal that Mr Banks, through his companies, organised and funded multiple visits to the United States in the year following the Brexit vote.
Channel 4 News claims that for the year after the EU referendum Mr Banks, through his companies, organised and funded multiple visits to the United States for Mr Farage (pictured in June 2016)
In July 2016, Mr Banks reportedly flew Mr Farage business class to Cleveland, Ohio to attend the Republican National Convention.
Mr Banks, through Southern Rock, is also said to have paid American lobbying firm Goddard Gunster £64,064 for a 'Nigel Farage Brexit Policy Luncheon'.
Mr Banks paid American strategist Gerry Gunster, through his company Goddard Gunster, to organise the event.
This included paying Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson £11,305.41 to interview Mr Farage at the event, the investigation reports.
At the RNC, Mr Farage met Republican Senator Bob Corker and John Bolton, currently serving as Donald Trump's National Security Advisor. The meetings were coordinated by the American strategy firm.
Mr Banks, through Southern Rock, paid American lobbying firm Goddard Gunster £64,064 for a 'Nigel Farage Brexit Policy Luncheon' and paid Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson (pictured) £11,305.41 to interview Mr Farage at the event
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.
Mr Farage also addressed a Trump rally, the first British politician to do so.
In autumn 2016, Channel 4 News reports that Rock
