In an interview with Paul Thorpe broadcast on 11 May 2026, I alleged that Mr Harborne had fixed the 2019 General Election result by conspiring with the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the then leader of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage, to ensure a majority for Mr Johnson's party by agreeing to pay each of them £1 million, which he duly did in November 2022, in return for the Brexit Party standing down all 317 of its candidates for Conservative-held seats. I made that allegation in reliance on information I had been given. I now accept that the information did not provide a sufficient basis for so serious an allegation, and I should not have made it. I withdraw that allegation and apologise to Mr. Harborne for the distress caused.