Nigel Farage has announced he will make a statement on his 'future in public life' later this afternoon, amid intense scrutiny of his finances and donors. The Reform UK leader is being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over allegations he did not properly declare a 'gift' of £5 million from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in January 2024.
Properties and links to criminal aristocrat under scrutiny
In recent weeks, he has also faced questions about his five properties around England and his links to criminal aristocrat George Cottrell. Writing on X, Farage said: 'I will make a statement on my future in public life at 2pm.'
It comes after he angrily confronted a journalist from Sky News at an airport, accusing the broadcaster of harassing his family. After being asked whether it was a 'mistake to accept the gifts', Farage replied: 'Do you not hear me? You have broken all the rules, Leveson, and everything else.' Sky News denies the allegation, saying it has not contacted anyone from Farage's family about the story.
Labour calls for Electoral Commission investigation
Further pressure came this morning from the Labour Party, which asked the Electoral Commission to investigate whether Farage broke electoral law by failing to declare gifts from Cottrell. A Sunday Times investigation published on Sunday said Cottrell personally hired people to build up Farage's social media presence, which was then used to champion Reform UK.
Labour chair Anna Turley said it was 'abundantly clear' that the Reform leader 'may have not only broken parliamentary rules, he may have broken the law'. She added: '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.'
