Nigel Farage quit as an MP today to trigger a by-election amid a deepening political row over his financial affairs, insisting: ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
The Reform leader lashed out at the ‘establishment’ and the media as he announced he would step down from his Clacton seat and seek a fresh mandate from voters in Essex.
Mr Farage said he had ‘never been angrier’ and said he was the most vilified UK politician of recent times, revealing he now faces two standards investigations into undeclared cash payments and financial assistance before he became an MP.
He has been reported to authorities over reports that long-term ally George Cottrell – a convicted fraudster known as ‘Posh George’ – provided undeclared funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected, as well as the use of a Westminster house.
Parliament’s standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg is already investigating a £5million gift the MP received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne and could reportedly quiz the Reform leader before Parliament’s summer recess.
Mr Farage has denied any wrongdoing and claimed he is the target of an ‘stitch-up’ – a claim endorsed last night by US president Donald Trump.
In his lengthy and wide-ranging televised address he branded the summer vote ‘a people versus the Establishment’ by-election that would give his supporters ‘a chance to stick two fingers up’.
‘Let me be absolutely clear, after the furore and the media pile-on, well, not just the media, the other political parties too – let me be absolutely clear – I have done nothing wrong,’ he said.
‘I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money, and you know, for the first two years of being an MP, my personal MP expenses are zero, not of course that you’ll read about that in mainstream media.’
It came after he Mr Farage clashed with a Sky TV crew as he returned to Britain from the United States last night.
The Reform leader lashed out at the ‘establishment’ as he announced he would step down from his Clacton seat and seek a fresh mandate from voters in Essex
Nigel Farage is under the heaviest pressure he has faced in his time as Reform leader following reports that long-term ally George Cottrell had provided undeclared funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected
Mr Farage reacted angrily when asked whether it had been a mistake not to declare the gifts, saying: ‘You tell your bosses, you harass my family any more… serious consequences. That’s what your organisation has done this morning. Go away.’
Sky said it had not contacted anyone from Mr Farage’s family about the story.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch laid into him in a speech this morning, accusing him of ‘hiding’ from the row and Reform of being ‘completely distracted by their constant scandals and personal dramas’.
Speaking at a rally in central London, Mrs Badenoch said: ‘What surprised me most was what he said, it was on Sky News, that he said this, where he was being asked questions, and then talked about Leveson.
‘He’s hinting at press regulation. For all of the criticism and the attacks – and I would even say abuse – that I’ve got from the press, I never once recommended us curbing our free press.’
She added: ‘We should be worried about a Reform government using government power to control the press.’
Mr Farage has form for quitting as a political party leader, having done so three times when running UKIP and once from Reform in 2021.
He did manage to win the backing of Donald Trump last night after his transatlantic trip. The US president, a long-term ally, appeared to echo his claim that he is the victim of an ‘establishment hit job’.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump shared a link to an article on The National Pulse website titled ‘They’re Running the 2024 Anti-Trump Playbook on Nigel Farage’.
The article accuses the UK media of giving far more coverage to ‘every gaffe, controversy, or disagreement’ by Farage and Reform, while ‘policy successes or growing voter support are frequently downplayed’.
Mr Trump personally called Mr Farage to congratulate him on his political success in achieving the removal of Sir Keir Starmer from No 10, The Times reported.
The Reform leader was involved in a confrontation with a television crew as he returned to the UK from the United States last night
The Sunday Times reported this weekend that Mr Cottrell, known as ‘Posh George’, who has a fraud conviction in the United States, provided funding for staffing and security, and the use of a London townhouse.
Critics have said that this should have been declared under Parliamentary rules in place at the time of Mr Farage’s election in 2024, under which new MPs were required to register any gifts worth more than £300 they received in the previous 12 months, except where the gift ‘could not be reasonably thought by others’ to relate to their political activities.
Mr Cottrell reportedly recruited and paid three staff to work on Mr Farage’s social media before the general election, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian property he rented near Buckingham Palace.
If the probe finds against the Reform leader and suspends him from the Commons for more than 30 days he would be subject to a recall petition by voters, which could trigger a summer by-election.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have already demanded a parliamentary sleaze inquiry into the latest claims.
The Reform leader on Sunday issued a statement saying he had not broken any rules.
He said: ‘I have done no wrongdoing, followed the rules and I am now considering legal action against The Sunday Times.
‘It’s now clear the establishment will stop at nothing to hurt Reform – we want to smash their cosy consensus.’
Labour has asked the Electoral Commission to investigate whether the support should have been declared because Mr Farage was a prominent figure in Reform even before he returned to frontline politics.
The party also questioned whether Montenegro-based Mr Cottrell was a permissible donor, claiming it was not clear whether he was on a UK electoral register at the time.
Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley wrote to the Electoral Commission to call for an investigation.
She said: ‘It is now abundantly clear that Mr Farage may have not only broken Parliamentary rules, he may have broken the law.
‘Farage can’t brazenly brush this off as being ‘none of your business’ any longer. He needs to own his self-inflicted scandal and prove he’s not been secretly breaking the rules and taking the British public for fools.’
