So, where are we now?
Nigel Farage
If Farage wins the upcoming Clacton by-election, he will face the existing inquiry into the £5 million gift from Christopher Harborne, and a new one into undisclosed benefits from convicted fraudster George Cottrell, aka Posh George. The latter, by the way, is trying to get Trump to pardon his conviction.
If Farage is sanctioned for failing to declare the gifts, a second by-election could be triggered if the investigation concludes with a suspension of more than 10 days and a recall petition in Clacton achieves support from 10% or more of the voters.
Reform UK
Reform itself is also under investigation by the Metropolitan Police over £1m donations it has received and whether the ultimate donor was eligible to make them. The £1m from Fiona Cottrell (mother of Posh George) was routed with two separate payments of £250k made directly on 9 and 29 May 2024 and two separate payments of £250k made via Tice's company Britain Means Business on 10 and 12 June 2024.
The latest Sunday Times report
This new report is about Farage's defence of the £5m personal gift from Christopher Harborne. Farage's defence now looks a lot weaker as his political activities in 2024 have been found to go back months earlier than he claimed.
Quote:
Nigel Farage struck Reform comeback deal long before election
Supervised by the convicted fraudster George Cottrell, the agreement undermines Farage’s claim about when he decided to return to politics
Nigel Farage struck a secret deal to return as leader of Reform UK months before the general election.
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.
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.
Farage has claimed repeatedly that he did not need to declare a £5 million gift from the crypto*billionaire 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.”
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https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics...rell-5gfrcrmb0
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