Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf are 'golden', Laila Cunningham insists - as rumours of row swirl

Earlier, it was reported an explosive row had emerged within Reform UK after the party’s leader publicly slapped down his home affairs spokesperson for calling a former Tory defence secretary a “traitor”.

Yusuf even suggested that Ben Wallace - a former soldier who served in Northern Ireland - should be prosecuted for his role in Afghans coming to Britain after the UK’s withdrawal.

Farage said Yusuf had gone “over the top” in the attack on Wallace.

Speaking to Ben Kentish who stepped in for Sunday with Lewis Gooddall, Cunningham dampened down the allegations of a fallout calling the relationship between the duo as "golden".

The Reform UK mayoral candidate went on: "I was at polling day, I was at the festival. Not at all. And I think people should always be wary of anonymous sources."

Last June, an internal row in the party erupted after Yusuf quit and then returned to the party after just 48 hours over a row about banning the burka.

When announcing his resignation, he said: "I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office."

He added he had been left feeling undervalued by some in the party and drained after being subjected to relentless racist abuse on social media - then saying he had made the comments "in error".

Nigel Farage later said he had forgiven Yusuf for his decision, but admitted the party was "plunged" into a "difficult place" by the incident.

When probed on why Farage did not attend the by-election count despite winning in Clacton-on-Sea last week, Cunningham said he is under a "massive threat, constant".

"I think it's remarkable that the public are judging him on this when one of our colleagues was killed and you saw that the counter-terrorists ignored someone who put a firebomb in his house last year and have referred himself," she said.

When asked why he accepted the £5 million gift from Thai-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

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She explained: "He is under massive threat, and security is so expensive, and he's going to have to pay for it.

"He has a mate that has a lot of money, and the mate was like, 'Listen, you don't feel safe, you don't have any security, I'll give you money."

Then Ben probed her on whether the money was a gift or a reward for delivering on Brexit.

She replied: "Well, obviously it was a gift. Two things can be true, he could have, he could have really liked what he did for Brexit."

'None of people's business'

She went on that "in his mind" it is actually "none of people's business" how he spends his own private money."

Cunningham concluded: "I don't think the public should be privy to how he spends money in his bank account."

She added Farage would "respect" the decision of the £5million crypto investigation - which has resumed following the by-election - once completed.

"He'll respect the process. He's cooperated with them fully, by the way," she went on.