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Nigel Farage has been referred to Parliament’s standards watchdog over reports he failed to declare financial support from a convicted criminal.
The Reform UK leader allegedly received “secret” gifts and payments from George Cottrell, a close aide and crypto-gambling entrepreneur, in the 12 months leading up to his election as MP for Clacton.
He also reportedly enjoyed the use of a five-storey Georgian townhouse rented by Cottrell near Buckingham Palace after he was elected, which was described as his “central London bolthole”.
Under rules in place at the time, new MPs were required to register any gifts worth more than £300 that they received in the previous 12 months, except where the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.
According to an investigation by The Sunday Times, Mr Farage failed to divulge the vast majority of support he had received from Cottrell in the year prior to his arrival in Westminster – raising questions over a potential breach of the MPs’ code of conduct.
‘Not being straight’
On Sunday, the Reform leader was referred to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner by Josh Babarinde, a Lib Dem MP, who accused him of “not being straight with the British public”.
Reform UK has denied that Mr Farage breached parliamentary rules, branding The Sunday Times report “baseless and contrived”.
On Sunday morning, Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, dismissed the revelations as a “very old story”, insisting “there’s nothing to see here”.
Cottrell, nicknamed “Posh George”, is a confidant of Mr Farage and a key figure in Reform UK. He has helped to raise millions of pounds in funding for Mr Farage’s parties, including Ukip and the Brexit Party.
In 2016, he was arrested in the US on charges including money laundering. He spent eight months in jail after admitting to one charge of wire fraud, with a further 20 counts dropped as part of a plea deal.
In the 12 months before his election as MP in 2024, Mr Farage reportedly accepted benefits from Cottrell including security, drivers, staff and accommodation. The total value of the alleged support is unclear, but it is said to have included a salary equivalent to more than £50,000 for a social media assistant.
Cottrell, who now runs a political consultancy, reportedly continued to provide the Reform leader with free use of his five-storey townhouse near Buckingham Palace after the MP’s arrival in Westminster.
None of this was declared by Mr Farage, according to The Sunday Times. He is said to have made a single disclosure relating to Cottrell’s support after his election, of around £9,000 for travel and accommodation to attend an event in Belgium.
The revelations will add to pressure on Mr Farage, who is already facing questions about an undisclosed £5m gift from Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary standards commissioner, is investigating whether the Reform leader should have registered that gift.
If found to have breached the rules, Mr Farage could face sanctions including a Commons suspension that could trigger a recall petition and a by-election in his seat.
The Clacton MP has given various explanations for the gift from Mr Harborne, including that it was to pay for his personal security.
Mr Babarinde, the Lib Dem MP for Eastbourne, wrote to Mr Greenberg on Sunday calling for a new investigation into the allegations relating to Cottrell.
In his letter to Mr Greenberg, posted on X, he said there was a “serious question as to whether Mr Farage met his obligations under the code of conduct for MPs”.
On Sunday, James Murray, the Health Secretary, told the BBC that Mr Farage had a “flexible relationship with transparency”.
However, Mr Jenrick said that no rules had been broken “whatsoever” and insisted Mr Farage was “not going anywhere”.
He told the BBC: “You’re allowed to accept a gift, support, whatever you want to call it, from a personal friend before you’re a member of parliament, if it’s in a purely personal capacity.”
He added: “It’s perfectly legitimate for a personal friend to offer you security. The question really is, did he need to report this? No, because it was a personal friend, and it was before he was a Member of Parliament.”
A Reform UK spokesman said: “It comes as no surprise that The Sunday Times has chosen to publish this baseless and contrived story, covering a period of time when Nigel Farage was not even an active politician, let alone an elected one, given that the newspaper backed the Labour Party at the last general election.
“Contrary to the story’s tone, no parliamentary rules have been broken.”
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