Police investigate donations by Richard Tice company to Reform UK
Fiona Cottrell’s son, George Cottrell, has been at the center of political controversy in recent weeks.
The Sunday Times reported that it supported Farage by paying personnel and security expenses before the 2024 elections, but these aids were not disclosed after Farage became an MP. Farage has since resigned as MP and is running for re-election in the Clacton constituency.
Farage has consistently maintained that the money given to him before he was elected MP was given personally and therefore did not need to be declared. Cottrell’s lawyers said Cottrell “categorically disputes the allegations and allegations made by The Sunday Times, which do not clearly reflect what the publisher was told before reporting.”
Asked by the Sunday Times whether Cottrell had transferred money to his mother before donating to Reform UK, his lawyers at Carter Ruck said: “Our client confirmed her mother’s instructions that the donations she made were entirely her own decision.”
George Cottrell was a long-time close political and personal ally of the Reformation UK leader.
He pleaded guilty to fraud in the US and spent eight months in prison there before being released in 2017.
After his release he returned to the UK and now lives in Montenegro.
At a rally in Norfolk on Tuesday, Nigel Farage said he had “absolutely no idea” whether George Cottrell had given his mother money to donate to the party, adding: “What does it have to do with how families handle their finances?”
“If the money is legally his and he made the donation, I don’t see what the problem is,” he said.
Britain Means Business was founded in August 2017 under the name Leave Means Leave and campaigned for a “clean Brexit”.
The organization was founded by Tice and John Longworth, the former boss of the British Chamber of Commerce and prominent Brexit campaigner.
Longworth Means Leave in January 2020, when the UK officially left the EU.
A few months later, Tice changed the name of the organization to Britain Means Business. He is now the sole owner and control of the business.
