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Reform UK’s Farage failed to disclose funds from convicted criminal: Report
Al Jazeera • • general
Key Points:
- Nigel Farage reportedly received financial benefits including security, drivers, staff, and accommodation from convicted fraudster George Cottrell in the year before his 2024 election to parliament, but failed to declare most of these benefits as required by parliamentary rules.
- Cottrell, jailed in the US in 2017 for money laundering, allegedly paid three staff for Farage’s social media and allowed him to use a townhouse near Buckingham Palace; Farage only declared a travel benefit worth about £9,200 from Cottrell.
- Farage’s spokesman denied any breach of parliamentary rules, calling the report “baseless and contrived,” while Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde has called for an investigation into whether Farage met his obligations under the MPs’ Code of Conduct.
- The MPs’ Code of Conduct requires declaration of any political benefit over £300 received in the year before election, especially if donor motives are questionable; Farage is already under investigation for accepting £5 million from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
