Nigel Farage has been thrust into the Donald Trump Russia scandal after he was accused of secretly handing data to Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder.

The former Ukip leader is alleged to have repeatedly met the elusive hacker in the Ecuadorian embassy and delivered him a "thumb drive" of information.

The claim is controversial because Wikileaks published Democratic Party emails during the election that were suspected of coming from Russian hackers.

It is unclear when the trips are alleged to have taken place but it appears the claim includes suggestions some visits happened before the 2016 vote.

The allegation came from the man who commissioned a dossier of lurid allegations about Mr Trump. He admitted the claim had not been not corroborated.