Reform breaks silence on ‘treacherous’ Nathan Gill as Farage ally seeks injury limitation | EUROtoday

A key ally of Nigel Farage has damaged Reform UK’s silence on its former get together chief in Wales who was jailed final week for taking bribes from Russia.

Zia Yusuf, the get together’s former chairman and key member of Reform’s management, claimed that it was “unreasonable” to hyperlink Gill’s crime with the softer stance that the get together and Mr Farage have taken on Vladimir Putin’s Russia and its criticism of the Ukraine struggle.

Mr Yusuf described Gill as “treasonous, horrific, awful” in an interview with Sir Trevor Phillips on his Sunday morning political present on Sky News.

Gill, 52, was sentenced to 10 and a half years in jail on the Old Bailey on Friday after beforehand pleading responsible to eight counts of bribery on dates between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.

Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb handed him the sentence as she stated that the hurt he had brought on was “profound” and that he had “fundamentally compromised” the integrity of a legislative physique for “substantial” monetary achieve.

Gill’s actions included making pro-Russia statements about occasions in Ukraine within the European parliament and in opinion items for information retailers, for which he was paid £40,000.

Gill was first elected a member of the European parliament in 2014, representing Ukip, and his position ended when the UK left the EU in 2020 – at which level he was an MEP for the Brexit Party and an in depth ally of Mr Farage.

He led Reform UK’s 2021 Welsh parliament election marketing campaign, however left the get together that yr.

Previously, Mr Farage has stated he was “shocked” in regards to the revelations and described Gill as a “bad apple”.

But on his present Sir Trevor linked Gill’s actions within the European Parliament the place he requested questions on behalf of Russia to cash, to positions taken by Reform since.

Acknowledging that Gill left the get together 4 years in the past, he stated: “I tell you why this matters to you politically, Mr Nathan Gill, your former leader in Wales…is now starting a long sentence for taking money from Russians.

“There will be many people who will say ‘well, these guys are soft on Putin, they think the whole war is partly our fault and not his, why should we trust anything they say about Russia given that one of their people took money from Russians?’”

Mr Yusuf responded: “I think that would be an incredibly unreasonable position to take. Look Nathan Gill what he did was treasonous, horrific, awful, he’s now been dealt with by the authorities, he deserves the sentence that he has got.

“But, as you have just said, this is a guy that as far as we are concerned is ancient history. I have never met him. I had never heard of him actually until I saw his name sadly in the newspapers.

“So I think it is unreasonable to besmirch everyone else at Reform and the millions of people around the country who support Nigel and support our party.”