Baroness Harriet Harman, former chair of the Commons standards committee and ex-Deputy Labour leader, has told Nigel Farage he is facing the “opposite of an establishment hit-job” amid allegations that he failed to declare financial benefits from a convicted criminal. The Reform UK leader had complained of being the victim of an “establishment hit-job”, claiming reports were an attempt to hurt his party while his deputy Richard Tice attacked investigative reporters on social media.
Background of the Allegations
Mr Farage is already under investigation by Parliament’s standards commissioner over an undisclosed £5 million gift from Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne. Over the weekend, he was again referred to commissioner Daniel Greenberg after allegedly failing to declare financial benefits he received from a convicted criminal. The former UKIP leader is accused of breaching parliamentary rules over claims he accepted staffing, security and housing from George Cottrell – a rich aristocrat known as “Posh George” – in the year before he became an MP.
Under rules in place at the time of Mr Farage’s election in 2024, new MPs were required to register any gifts worth more than £300 received in the previous 12 months, except where the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities. If found to have breached the rules, he could face sanctions including a Commons suspension that could trigger a recall petition and a by-election in his Clacton seat.
Farage's Response
On Sunday evening, Mr Farage claimed: “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.” In response, Baroness Harman told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The parliamentary commissioner on standards is not and has never been a political figure. He is completely independent and he is the one doing the investigation.”
She added: “This is the opposite of an establishment hit-job. This is so the public can know that the establishment in terms of people with lots of money are not buying their Members of Parliament. Over the decades I was an MP, each time there was a review of the code of conduct, the standards were raised.”
Harman's Criticism
Baroness Harman also said: “Nigel Farage saying this is an establishment hit-job – what he should be saying is ‘these rules are important, they keep our Parliament clean, I'm going to at all times comply with them, I have complied with them, I'll cooperate with the investigation and I'm confident I'll be found not to have broken the rules’.” She noted that if the commissioner finds a breach, “the way he’s conducted himself whilst he’s been under investigation will be taken into account as an aggravating fact when it comes to the penalty.”
Reform UK's Defence
Speaking on Sunday, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said Cottrell is an “old friend” of Mr Farage and has “no formal role within Reform”. Despite this, The Times reported that Cottrell had handed out business cards printed with his name, the Reform UK logo and Mr Farage’s official email. A Reform spokesman told The Mirror: “George Cottrell is an unpaid volunteer with no formal role at Reform UK, like many thousands of party members. The business card was designed to help donors or other members of the public easily get in touch with Nigel Farage’s office. It was not intended to suggest any formal position or authority. Mr Cottrell has never held an official role within the party.”
Labour Minister's Reaction
Labour minister Olivia Bailey also expressed shock at Mr Farage’s reaction, telling LBC: “I think he’s got really, really serious questions to answer, and to be honest, I'm really shocked to see the reaction from him, from Robert Jenrick on the telly yesterday, trying to obfuscate, trying to say there’s nothing to see here, trying to accuse The Times of being a Labour-supporting newspaper. I did chuckle at that one. I think it’s ridiculous, I think it’s offensive to the British public. I think there are serious questions to answer, and I hope that the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner proceeds with their investigations.”
