Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage has said he was the victim of an “establishment hit job” over accusations he received undeclared financial benefits from long-time associate George Cottrell.
The politician insisted he had followed the rules over the support he had received from Mr Cottrell provided funding for the Reform UK leader’s operation, including for staffing, security and housing, according to The Sunday Times.
Mr Farage 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.”
Mr Cottrell provided funding for the Reform UK leader’s operation, including for staffing, security and housing, The Sunday Times reported on Saturday.
It said Cottrell 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 townhouse he rented near Buckingham Palace.
Mr Farage allegedly registered a £9,000 trip to Belgium donated by Mr Cottrell, and belatedly added £15,000 for a US domestic flight, but no other support, after he became the MP for Clacton in 2024.
Under rules in place at the time, 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.
Reform UK denied that its leader breached the code of conduct.
The party’s treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick also insisted that “no rules have been broken” over the allegations as they cover a period “before he became a member of parliament”.
“I believe Nigel has said that he stayed a couple of times there, very infrequently, as you’re allowed to,” Mr Jenrick told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme in regards to allegations that Mr Farage stayed in a townhouse rented by Mr Cottrell.
“Nigel Farage is allowed to have friends. As a politician, you’re allowed to stay at a friend’s house, and certainly remember, Nigel was not an elected politician.
“He was, if you like, an ex-politician at the time. He was somebody in the private world who was not even considering standing for parliament.
“He’d ruled it out, and this was a friendship that he had with someone who was helping him.”
He added: “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.
“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.”
The accusations have raised further concerns due to Mr Cottrell’s criminal background after he was jailed for eight months in the US in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud and admitting to attempting to defraud criminals on the dark web by masquerading as a money launderer.
Mr Farage is already facing questions about an undisclosed £5m gift from Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne and last week he insisted “no one cares” about the money.
Parliament’s standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg is now investigating whether Mr Farage should have registered the gift.
If he is found to have breached the rules, the Reform UK leader could face sanctions including a Commons suspension that could trigger a recall petition and a by-election in his seat.
“Just like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage has a lifelong habit of putting his own financial interests and those of his wealthy cronies above the interests of ordinary people,” a Green Party spokesperson told The Independent.
“The crypto bros and fossil fuel companies lining the pockets of Farage and funnelling money into Reform UK coffers expect something in return. This explains why Nigel Farage and his party are so crypto-friendly and so hostile towards action on climate breakdown.”
