Robert Jenrick has said Nigel Farage triggered a by-election in his Commons seat after concluding he faced a “stitch-up” amid a standards probe into a £5 million gift he received from a crypto-billionaire. Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman likened the process to a “kangaroo court” and rejected suggestions the party leader was cowardly for not waiting until the parliamentary investigation had finished before standing in a contest.
Farage’s by-election call and the £5m probe
Mr Farage has said he will fight in what he billed as a “people versus the establishment” by-election after facing scrutiny over his finances, including the gift from Christopher Harborne. An investigation by Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg into the £5 million he received from the Thailand-based cryptocurrency tycoon will now be suspended, but could resume if he returns to the Commons as MP for Clacton. If he is found to have broken the rules and a suspension of more than 10 days is imposed, it could trigger a recall petition and the prospect of Mr Farage losing his seat, forcing a second contest.
Jenrick defends Farage on LBC
While hosting a phone-in on LBC on Thursday, Mr Jenrick spoke with one caller who raised concerns a “political stunt” was taking place and voters would be left lacking support from their MP because “it’s by-election after by-election.” “Well, I think the answer to that is let this be the final determiner of what happens to Nigel Farage. I mean, I quite agree with you that putting a constituency through by-elections over and over again becomes a complete farce,” he replied. “People are sick of it. They just want to get on with their lives, and so Nigel’s cut to the chase. He’s holding the by-election because it was inevitable there was going to be one. All the political party leaders have totally prejudged the situation. I don’t know if you saw… but Kemi Badenoch put out a tweet saying that they wouldn’t field the candidate in this by-election, but they would in the next one. Well, how does she know there’s even going to be another one? She’s obviously hoping, planning for there to be one, and so Nigel, not unreasonably, concluded that it’s a bit of a kangaroo court. It’s a stitch up. They’re going to call a by-election at some point.”
Farage attacks Standards Committee
It comes after Mr Farage attacked Parliament’s Standards Committee, which oversees the commissioner’s work and could impose a sanction if he is found to have broken the rules. In an interview with the Daily Mail, he said: “There are people on that Standards Committee who will judge me, who have reported me for Islamophobia. It is going to be a completely subjective judgment. There’s no objectivity in this.” Mr Farage appeared to confess he had been wrong-footed by the other main Westminster parties boycotting the Clacton by-election, in which his main rival looks set to be comedy candidate Count Binface. Opponents including Labour and the Tories have dismissed the move as a gimmick to deflect attention away from his financial arrangements. Asked whether he had considered the prospect of being the only proper candidate, he told the Mail: “No, of course not. Why would they (not contest)? It’s a real election.”
Financial disclosures and George Cottrell
The Reform UK leader maintains he has done nothing wrong and has said the £5 million gift from Mr Harborne was personal and did not need to be declared. New MPs are 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. The Reform UK leader is also facing questions over support provided by convicted criminal George Cottrell after a Sunday Times investigation. Long-term ally 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. Mr Farage suggested his ongoing association with Mr Cottrell was based on a belief in “Christian forgiveness for what people have been charged and found to have done wrong aged 21.” Mr Cottrell was jailed for eight months in the US in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud after admitting attempting to defraud criminals on the dark web by masquerading as a money launderer.
Jenrick faces donation probe
Meanwhile, police have opened an investigation into a political donation of nearly £40,000 made to Mr Jenrick’s failed Tory leadership campaign in 2024 amid claims it ultimately came from a foreign source. Newark MP Mr Jenrick, who has since defected to Reform, rejected the allegations as “entirely false” and his spokesman said he had provided “detailed records that categorically disproved these smears in 2025” to the Electoral Commission. Confronted by a caller on Thursday who suggested he was “now subject apparently of a police investigation,” he said: “That’s not actually true… That’s not correct. What’s actually happened here is that I stood for leader of the Conservative Party back in the day. The Conservative Party introduced a donor to me, they checked out whether or not this bloke was legit or not. There’s now been a suggestion that maybe part of his donation was from an overseas company. That’s been looked into. I’ve co-operated fully. I’ve not done anything wrong whatsoever, and I’ve not actually had any contact from the Metropolitan Police, so I’ve no idea whether or not they’re looking into it or not. But they’ve certainly not told me one way or another.”
