Nigel Farage secretly agreed to return as Reform UK leader months before the 2024 general election, according to a Sunday Times investigation. The deal was allegedly brokered with then-leader Richard Tice and George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster, and was presented to the party's treasurer in mid-May, weeks before the July vote.
Farage told a podcast last month he "wasn't in politics" up until June 3 that year, when he dramatically announced his comeback during the campaign. That point has been central to his insistence that he did not need to formally declare a £5 million gift from billionaire Christopher Harborne to parliamentary authorities.
Timeline questioned over £5m donation
MPs are instructed to declare any gifts, benefits or hospitality connected to political activity received up to 12 months before they are elected. In June, Farage repeatedly declined to tell interviewers whether he had spent the money and what it was used for, saying: "I can spend it on Ferraris if I want."
He had earlier claimed the money was for his security and a reward for decades of Brexit campaigning. His office declined to comment on a Guardian article about the payments, saying the politician "does not feel any answer he gives to you will be reflected accurately".
Alleged deal on party loans
According to the Sunday Times, the arrangement reached by Farage, Tice and Cottrell involved the party repaying or writing off loans it had received from Tice's company. The agreement was reportedly made in March and April 2024.
The Guardian reported that Farage informed senior Reform figures he would need "a million a year" to make up for lost earnings if he stood for Parliament, with any terms lasting a maximum of five years between elections. Sources placed that discussion in March 2024, shortly before Harborne gave him the £5 million in April.
A Reform spokesman told Metro the deal merely involved Farage investigating what taking on the leadership would entail, and that he was keeping "his options open". The spokesman said: "Nigel simply found out the party liabilities and what loans would have to be repaid if he were to come back. He then decided he wouldn't before reversing that decision."
Standards investigation and by-election
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner was investigating whether the money from Harborne and separate support from Cottrell should have been declared, before Farage resigned last month to run in a by-election.
Farage is not currently an MP and is fighting the by-election in his Clacton constituency, which was forced by his resignation last month. He said he was stepping down to rerun in what he termed a "people versus the establishment" election. The move appeared to backfire when the major parties pulled out, variously calling it a "stunt" and a "vanity project", leaving novelty candidate Count Binface as his most prominent opponent.
