Nigel Farage’s political rivals rule out standing in Clacton by-election

In a 20-minute video statement recorded by the party on Tuesday, without journalists present to ask questions, Farage insisted he had “done nothing wrong” with his finances and railed against the media, complaining about the treatment of his family.

He said the “establishment” was using “evil methods” to target his party.

He said the by-election would be “a chance to put two fingers in the air to clearly tell the entire establishment where they’re going to go.”

Reform sources said they wanted the elections to be held quickly and under parliamentary rules they could be held as early as August.

Asked if he was making a demonstration as he left his party’s office, Farage said: “Oh, it’s a big gamble.”

Farage said his party had offered to cover byelection costs, normally paid from central government funds.

The government’s 2016 estimate puts the cost of the by-election at £228,964, although this figure will have increased since then.

Conservative peer and polling expert Lord Hayward said the “whole principle” of British electoral law was that “you separate the administration of the election from the party contest”.

He told the Today programme: “It would therefore be illegal for them to pay to cover the costs of the by-election.”

Farage won the Clacton constituency in the 2024 general election, gaining a healthy majority of more than 8,000, leaving the Conservatives in second place. Labor came third, followed by the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.

Farage has been under investigation by Parliament’s standards commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, since May for failing to declare a £5 million gift he received from billionaire Reform donor Christopher Harborne before becoming an MP.

In his speech, Farage described the money as “the equivalent of a lottery win”.

He said he was “the most physically and verbally attacked public figure or politician of modern times” and that the “unconditional” gift would help cover personal security expenses.

Over the weekend, the Sunday Times published a report saying Farage’s long-time ally George Cottrell had provided support ahead of the 2024 general election, which included paying staff providing security for Farage and working on social media content.

Parliament’s rulebook says newly elected MPs must declare any gifts or benefits, including accommodation, related to their “parliamentary or political activities” that they received in the 12 months before their election.

There is an exemption for gifts and benefits that are “purely personal”.

Farage argued that the support he received would fall within this exemption.

The standards commissioner’s investigation was halted following Farage’s resignation but could be restarted if he wins the by-election and returns to Parliament.

One possible outcome of the investigation is suspension, which triggers a recall petition.

This process allows an MP to be removed from office, and a new by-election can be triggered if 10% of eligible registered voters sign a petition.

Separately, Cottrell and his mother were revealed to have given money to a company and think tank owned by Reform deputy leader Richard Tice.

As first reported by the Telegraph, Tice’s company Tisun Investment received an £80,000 loan from Cottrell in late 2024, while think tank Britain Means Business received a £1 million donation from Fiona Cottrell in June 2024.

These payments were sent to the National Crime Agency (NCA) under its Suspicious Activity Reports programme; Tice said he only became aware of this when he was contacted by the Guardian newspaper.

Reform UK believes the information is likely to come from the NCA.

Tice wrote a letter to the boss of the NCA, asking if he would investigate whether the organization was responsible for the leak of his private financial information to the media.

A spokesman said: “The NCA does not confirm or deny the receipt of suspicious activity reports (SARs) and does not comment on how SARs are used. SARs are confidential and any breach of this confidentiality risks committing a whistleblowing offense under the Proceeds of Crime Act.”

The SAR program alerts law enforcement to potential cases of money laundering and flagged 866,616 reports in 2024/25.