‘Jail is inevitable’ for former Reform politician awaiting bribery sentence

The MEP in question was Nathan Gill, a former Ukip and Brexit party MEP. The gifts were coded references to money, to be given in exchange for reading scripted lines. Next month Gill will make history as the first British politician to be sentenced under the UK Bribery Act, after he pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery for making pro-Russia statements. His own defence lawyer has said jail time is “inevitable”.

During his time as an MEP, Gill made several trips to Ukraine and other parts of eastern Europe. In October 2018 he was joined on a “fact-finding mission” to Kyiv by two colleagues: Jonathan Arnott and David Coburn. The trio enjoyed flights and a stay at the luxury boutique Opera Hotel in Kyiv, paid for by what has since been found to be a fake election monitoring outfit called the European Council on Democracy and Human Rights. There is no suggestion Arnott or Coburn knew the outfit was fake at the time.

Their declarations say it was “to meet with TV channels 112 and NewsOne… in order to gain information towards a potential European Parliament resolution on freedom of the press in Ukraine”. The channels, which ran pro-Russia propaganda and were linked to Viktor Medvedchuk, a personal friend of Vladimir Putin, were facing closure following a vote in the Ukrainian parliament.

Arnott told The Observer that Gill had invited him on the Kyiv trip “at very short notice” after someone else had dropped out, adding that he felt “very uncomfortable” about elements of the visit.

“It felt as though instead of wanting us there for the reason we had been told, they wanted us there to use that as PR, which concerned me,” he said.

“On a personal level, I am fuming about this because I’ve been misled by Nathan as to the nature of why we went on the visit.”

Be that as it may, six weeks later, the three men would make strikingly similar statements to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, criticising Ukraine for silencing journalists and questioning whether the country should be allowed to join the EU as a result.

It was a debate sought by Gill, who told fellow MEPs: “I have every sympathy with Ukraine when it comes to Crimea, when it comes to Russian aggression and interference. But as surely as you can’t fight fire with fire, it is wrong to fight repression with repression.

“Support for freedom and democracy should be universal… that means allowing TV stations to broadcast, whether you like the message or not.”

He was followed by Arnott, then MEP for North East England, who said: “Against a backdrop of violence against journalists, the proposed closure of TV channels, I say this to the president and government of Ukraine: please defend freedom, please ensure justice for all, whether they agree or disagree with your view, and please ensure freedom of the press.”

Coburn, at the time MEP for Scotland, offered no criticism of Russia in his statement, simply saying: “This debate has hit on one key area where the Ukrainian government has been found wanting: freedom of the press. No government can stand by and do nothing while its journalists are being attacked and murdered… the president of Ukraine and the Rada parliament are plotting to close TV channels 112 and Channel One. Can this chamber truthfully say that the Ukraine which behaves this way is ready for EU entry?”

Gill applauded his colleagues’ interventions. After Coburn’s comments, he can be heard saying: “That was very good, David”.

Describing himself as a staunch Putin critic, Arnott told The Observer his comments were his own. “Anyone reading the speech can see that I criticised Russia up front, and that it’s written throughout in my own unique style,” he said.

Neither Arnott nor Coburn have ever been charged, and there is no evidence to suggest they received “xmas cards” or “post cards” as Gill did.

Some time after the visit, Gill and Coburn also joined Channel 112’s “international editorial board”, and held at least one event in the European Parliament. Arnott highlighted the fact that he had not joined as further proof of his anti-Putin stance.

Coburn did not respond to various requests for comment.

Anton Shekhovtsov, political scientist and founder of the Centre for Democratic Integrity, who has been tracking malign influence in Europe for years, told The Observer: “The operations Nathan Gill was involved in were successful… [the channel closures] didn’t happen until much later, partly because of getting those international politicians on board – and as Ukraine wanted to join the EU, this was used as a kind of blackmail.”

Shekhovtsov added: “Many are not aware they are being used, exploited, although the smarter people understand in what operations they are involved… But with those scripts, talking points, there is no way that these people are not aware about the influence operations.”

Questions are now being asked over what, if anything, Nigel Farage knew about Gill’s actions, which spanned more than two years and involved frequent visits to Ukraine and Moldova. Having previously said he knew nothing about Gill’s actions, last week the leader of Reform – which was rebranded from its former incarnation the Brexit party in 2021 – told Bloomberg that Gill was a “bad apple”.

Farage said he was sure “without any shadow of a doubt” that Gill was the only Reform politician engaging in such activity. “I believe, 100%, with all my heart, there’s nobody else.”

But Labour, which is expected to be defeated by Reform in the Caerphilly byelection this week, has sought to shift the focus onto their rival’s candidate for the Senedd seat.

Llŷr Powell, the Reform candidate who polls have put in first place ahead of Thursday’s vote, worked as a constituency caseworker for Gill. He has categorically denied any knowledge of Gill’s wrongdoing, describing it as “abhorrent” and “a betrayal”.

Photograph by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images