Despite the demands of being the MP for Clacton and leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage has found time to develop several alternative income streams since being elected to parliament.

His side hustles include being a social media influencer, presenting on GB News, and a stint recording on-demand videos for the Cameo platform – during which he appeared to endorse a neo-Nazi event, called for the release of the jailed rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and was duped into voicing a pro-IRA slogan.

Farage’s latest gig is his most lucrative yet while being an MP, according to official disclosures, which reveal that he received £270,000 for 12 hours’ work promoting Direct Bullion, a gold dealer for which he acts as a brand ambassador.

That takes his total earnings from the company to £685,500, a mere bagatelle compared with the £5m given to him by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne shortly before he became an MP.

But who is behind Direct Bullion and why is Farage worth so much to the company?

What is Direct Bullion?

Founded in 2016, the company sells physical precious metals, mostly gold coins and gold bullion bars, as well as silver. From its office in the upmarket Mayfair district of London, the company markets gold as a way to store wealth in an uncertain world, including as part of a pension investment.

Filings at Companies House do not reveal much because Direct Bullion is too small to publish full detailed accounts. What little detail there is to be found shows net assets of £2.6m, only about four times the amount it has paid Farage to date.

However, the company appears to have had revenue of £17m in 2022, according to the 2024 Financial Times list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, in which it placed 506th.

The company is not sitting on vast reserves of its own physical gold to sell. Instead, it sources coins and bars from mints and suppliers, acting as a dealer and broker for the purchase.

What is its sales pitch?

Direct Bullion’s website reads: “Some people view their wealth like they’re speeding in a car at 100mph without a seatbelt or airbag. Any little issue could see them being hurled through the windscreen.

“We believe gold is your seatbelt and airbag …” the company adds, without expanding on why an airbag made of metal would be a good idea.

Visitors to the website are treated to an array of posts about the parlous state of the debt-laden, inflation-ridden UK economy – and thus their savings – accompanied by warnings that “your wealth is disappearing”.

To offset this risk, customers can order home-delivered products including krugerrands, an Australian “Year of the Pig” gold coin, or the Royal Mint’s Royal Tudor Beasts coin collection depicting 10 statues of real and mythical creatures featured on the Moat Bridge at Hampton Court Palace.

Gold is down about 26% from the peak it reached in January.

Direct Bullion does not store customers’ gold itself but arranges for it to be kept in a vault owned by the US secure storage company Brinks. It also sells panic rooms and safes in which to store gold at home, including a £16,200 dual-locking safe.

Who is behind the company?

Direct Bullion’s co-founder, owner and chief executive is Paul Withers. He was a Royal Navy electronic warfare specialist between 1999 and 2004, according to his LinkedIn profile. A 15-year gap in his biography follows, although an online profile from 2023 refers to him having spent time as a carpenter.

Withers was involved in selling digitally “tokenised” gold for a company called Aurus from 2019 until 2025. These days, alongside his role with Direct Bullion, he is also the chief strategy officer of the cryptocurrency company Stack BTC. Farage invested £215,000 earlier this year for a 6% stake in Stack BTC, which is chaired by Kwasi Kwarteng, the short-lived chancellor of the exchequer under Liz Truss.

Last month, in response to Reform’s surge in the local authority elections, Withers posted on LinkedIn railing against the tax burden and taxes on top earners in particular. “Tax the rich” was a stupid suggestion, he explained.

In 2024, Withers congratulated Farage upon his election to parliament, calling him an “absolute legend”.

Why did the company hire Farage?

“I wanted him,” Withers told the Observer in August last year. “There was no plan B – it was either Nigel or no one.”

Direct Bullion had tried other means of spreading the word about its services before. The company previously advertised on the TV news network RT, formerly known as Russia Today, according to an archived version of its website. In 2021, it sponsored the GB News channel upon its launch, a decision that Withers has said led to initial talks with Farage.

What does Farage do for the money?

So far, Farage has earned £685,500 for his work promoting the company, according to the register of MPs’ interests, including some payments made before he became an MP.

The most recent instalment appears to be the most lucrative yet, worth £22,500 for every hour of work, a total of 12 hours over three months.

The full extent of that work isn’t immediately clear. Farage has recorded several videos for Direct Bullion, to be found on the company’s website and on YouTube, in which he waxes lyrical about its high standards and the virtues of gold as a store of wealth.

In a video shot outside the Bank of England, in which he cites his own history as a City metals trader, Farage warns of the turmoil in the world caused by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, adding: “Who knows what China may do with Taiwan? In uncertain times, gold is where you need your money to be.”