A political row has erupted over reports that Nigel Farage received financial support from a convicted criminal, George Cottrell, who provided funding for the Reform UK leader’s operation, including staffing, security, and housing, according to The Sunday Times.
Details of the Alleged Support
The newspaper reported that 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. Under rules in place at the time, 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.
Reform UK's Response
Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman, Robert Jenrick, said Cottrell is an “old friend” of Mr Farage and has “no formal role within Reform”. Mr Jenrick told broadcasters that “no rules have been broken whatsoever” and Mr Farage is “not going anywhere”. After becoming the MP for Clacton in 2024, Mr Farage registered a £9,000 trip to Belgium donated by Cottrell and belatedly added £15,000 for a US domestic flight, but no other support.
Asked if Cottrell paid for Mr Farage’s security and staff in 2024, Mr Jenrick told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that he did, but this was “before he became a member of Parliament”. 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.”
Cottrell's Criminal Background
Cottrell was jailed for eight months in the US in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud for attempting to defraud criminals on the dark web by masquerading as a money launderer. He was arrested as he and Mr Farage travelled back to Britain following a trip to the US. Asked if Mr Farage stayed in a townhouse rented by Cottrell, Mr Jenrick said: “I believe Nigel has said that he stayed a couple of times there, very infrequently, as you’re allowed to.” Cottrell reportedly remains a close adviser to Mr Farage after first becoming involved in Ukip as a volunteer in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.
Political Reactions
The Liberal Democrats have written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to say there is a “serious question as to whether Mr Farage met his obligations under the Code of Conduct for MPs”. Health Secretary James Murray said Mr Farage has a “flexible relationship with transparency” and there were “a lot of questions for him to answer”. Mr Murray told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “Frankly, it doesn’t surprise me, because I think quite a lot of questions come up in relation to his finances.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “Reform can’t shrug this scandal off and hope it goes away. Nigel Farage has been secretly funded by a convicted criminal, and Jenrick cannot explain why. The truth is, Farage and his party are just in it for themselves – they’re entirely unfit for office.”
Further Scrutiny and Investigations
Mr Farage is already facing questions about an undisclosed £5 million gift from Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne. Parliament’s standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg is investigating whether Mr Farage should have registered the 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. Asked about the undisclosed gift from Mr Harborne, Mr Jenrick told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “There’s nothing wrong with it whatsoever. It’s a private gift from a friend to Nigel.” He added that Reform is “very confident” the investigation will be dismissed.
The Clacton MP has given various explanations for the gift, including that it was to pay for his personal security. Labour has called for a financial watchdog probe into whether Mr Farage’s advocacy for cryptocurrency has benefitted Reform mega-donor Mr Harborne, after reports he lobbied the Bank of England governor to scrap plans for a state-run digital currency. Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell told Times Radio the investigation into Mr Farage should be expanded to include benefits he received from Cottrell. Cottrell, a crypto-gambling entrepreneur involved in offshore bookmaker Tether.bet, could also stand to gain from Mr Farage’s championing of crypto, according to The Sunday Times.
