The paper says that the party was unable to make or receive payments through its account with Arbuthnot Latham, a London private and merchant bank, for a two-week period that included polling day on July 4, 2024:
The Reform treasurer at the time repeatedly asked the bank for an explanation, urging it to unfreeze the account. However, Arbuthnot Latham refused. It said it could not unfreeze the account on demand and declined to provide information beyond saying it was performing “compliance checks”.
Days earlier, bankers had made suspicious activity reports to the National Crime Agency concerning more than £1 million in payments received by the party. They related to Fiona Cottrell, a self-styled “retired stylist” whose son paid for Farage’s staff, security, accommodation and social media output before the campaign in a series of undisclosed benefits.
In May 2024, Cottrell’s mother gave £500,000 to the party in her own name. The next month, she gave a further £1 million to a company owned by Richard Tice, Farage’s deputy, who then donated half of that sum to Reform.
In February last year the Metropolitan Police began a criminal investigation into payments she made, on the basis that she may have “disguised” the source of the donations. On Saturday the BBC reported that the ongoing inquiry was specifically examining the transactions involving Tice’s company. Cottrell and his mother have been interviewed under caution by detectives, according to The Guardian.
Taking into account money she donated directly or via Tice’s company, Fiona Cottrell provided 35 per cent of all payments received by Reform during the campaign. She has never commented on the source of her wealth or the subsequent inquiries by the National Crime Agency or Scotland Yard.
Farage, a vocal campaigner against the “banking establishment”, has never mentioned the freeze. The decision to freeze the account of a political party has no known precedent in modern times.
Things are getting interesting in the sage of Reform UK's finances.
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