Monday, August 03, 2026
The funding fog surrounding Nigel Farage and Reform UK
The paper says that Farage negotiated the pact with Richard Tice, then the leader, in March and April 2024. George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who had been secretly bankrolling Farage, supervised the discussions.
They add that under the terms of the deal, once Farage became leader Reform would repay or write off more than £1 million in outstanding loans it had received from Tice’s company:
The deal was first presented by Farage and Cottrell to the party’s treasurer in mid-May. Its existence undermines the Reform leader’s claim that he had no intention until June 2024 of returning to politics. Farage has used this to defend his failure to declare donations made to him in the year before he was elected as an MP, which triggered two parliamentary investigations.
On Saturday, Reform sources acknowledged the existence of the deal but insisted it had been drafted for if, not when, Farage became leader. Asked why he would have signed such an agreement if he had no intention of returning as leader, they said it kept his options open. They said Farage had assumed he would focus his energies on campaigning for Donald Trump in that year’s US presidential election.
Farage has claimed repeatedly that he did not need to declare a £5 million gift from the cryptobillionaire Christopher Harborne or in-kind benefits from Cottrell, as he was a media personality at the time. MPs must declare any benefit in any way connected to their “political activities” received in the 12 months before their election.
He told the Triggernometry podcast last month: “At that period of my life, from 2021 to the third of June 2024, I was a broadcaster, I was someone that appeared on celebrity TV programmes, I was somebody that promoted some financial market products, but I was an influencer, I wasn’t in politics.”
Mehrtash A’Zami, the party treasurer at the time, said: “I was told about the agreement before the election was called. It commenced when Nigel came back. The essence was the schedule of repayments. I was told to implement it and acted to fulfil it in line with my responsibilities.”
As the paper points out the disclosures also raise more questions about Reform UK’s compliance with electoral law. They add that the party is already at the centre of a Metropolitan Police investigation into whether the source of its donations was disguised.
This latest informaton also fills in some details about the chain of events leading to Farage resuming his party's leadership and standing for election, as well as the complicated web of donations assocaiated with that, though as yet the actual source of those funds is still unclear.
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I don't comment on these articles often but I read them regularly and I'm thankful that someone is standing up for objective truth and transparency. Thanks Peter.
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