Labour asks Electoral Commission to investigate claims Farage broke electoral law by not disclosing gifts
Good morning. One reason for the Reform UK leader's relative popularity is his generally genial and good-natured demeanor. However, a different side of Nigel Farage was evident last night when he angrily confronted a cameraman who approached him upon his return to the UK from a flight originating in the US. Farage also accused of harassing his family, allegations which denies. While it is possible that a difficult flight experience contributed to his outburst, it appears more likely that Farage's reaction stems from concern over the ongoing controversy regarding his failure to disclose gifts and support received shortly before becoming an MP in 2024, which could severely damage his prospects of becoming Prime Minister.
The Reform UK party has shared the video clip of this incident.
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It may offer some consolation to Farage that former US President Donald Trump has expressed support for him. Trump posted a message on his Truth Social platform yesterday.
However, fresh difficulties have emerged for Farage this morning. Over the weekend, the Sunday Times published an extensive investigation into gifts received from George Cottrell, a crypto entrepreneur with a prior fraud conviction, before Farage became an MP. The Sunday Times report and the ensuing reactions focused on allegations that Farage breached parliamentary rules by failing to declare these gifts in the register of MPs’ interests.
Now, Labour is requesting the Electoral Commission to investigate whether this failure to declare the gifts also constitutes a breach of electoral law. Anna Turley, Labour chair, has written to the commission outlining her case. She contends that, based on the Sunday Times reporting, the gifts from Cottrell exceed the £500 threshold for checking permissibility and the £2,230 threshold for reporting donations to the Electoral Commission.
Here is the key extract from Turley’s letter:
During the period in question (from the second half of 2023 until the 2024 general election), Mr Farage was a member of Reform UK, its honorary president and, with Reform UK being a private limited company at the time, the owner of the majority of its shares.
Mr Farage was highly active as a Reform member and campaigner over this period. For example, he was a speaker at Reform UK’s Conference on 8 October 2023; he posted regularly in support of Reform UK on X (formerly Twitter); and, as The Sunday Times reports, his video output created in conjunction with the staff funded by Mr Cottrell was highly political and strongly supportive of Reform UK:
His daily videos about “an invasion” of illegal migrants crossing the Channel, net zero U-turns from Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government and the “dreadful” Black Lives Matter movement raked in hundreds of thousands of views. He also continued to champion Reform, sharing a video bearing the party’s turquoise logo and encouraging viewers to vote at the October by-elections. “My efforts and my work will be solely behind Richard Tice and Reform UK,” he boasted in a video captioned “Reform is here to stay.”
As you will be aware, Schedule 7 of PPERA says that a regulated donee may be “a member of a registered party”, and that a “controlled donation” “in relation to a member of a registered party means a donation received by that person which is (i) offered to him, or (ii) where it has been accepted, retained by him, for his use or benefit in connection with any of his political activities as a member of the party”.
I believe that Mr Farage’s status within Reform UK, and his use of the resources provided by Mr Cottrell to produce campaigning material in support of Reform UK, and for his security during a period in which he was campaigning for Reform UK, engages this definition, such that Mr Cottrell’s donations are subject to regulation through having been made in connection with Mr Farage’s political activities in his capacity as a regulated donee.
In a statement to journalists, Turley said:
Serious allegations of rule breaking are already being assessed by the Parliamentary authorities. It is now abundantly clear that Mr Farage may have not only broken parliamentary rules, he may have broken the law.
Farage can’t brazenly brush this off as being “none of your business” any longer. He needs to own his self-inflicted scandal and prove he’s not been secretly breaking the rules and taking the British public for fools.
Agenda for the day
- 8.45am: Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, takes part in
- 10am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on defence.
- 10am: Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, hosts an LBC phone-in, standing in for James O’Brien.
- 10am: Lord Robertson and General Sir Richard Barrons, two of the three authors of last year’s strategic defence review, give evidence to the Commons defence committee on the defence investment plan published last week.
- 11.30am: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
- Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
- After 12.30pm: MPs debate two Conservative party opposition day motions. The first urges the government to back , and the second says the government should legislate to exempt sex offenders from the prisoner early release scheme.
- 1pm (UK time): is due to arrive at the Nato summit in Turkey. His engagements in the afternoon include a meeting with the Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre and a dinner with other leaders.
- 2.20pm: Louise Casey, the official leading a review of adult social care for the government, gives a speech to the Local Government Association.
- 2.30pm: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Lords justice and home affairs committee.
- 3.30pm: Badenoch speaks at Politico’s Playbook live event. Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader, is speaking at 5.05pm.
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Starmer will be 'completely powerless' at Nato summit, says Badenoch, as she renews attack on defence investment plan
In her speech this morning, Kemi Badenoch will claim that Keir Starmer will be “completely powerless” at the Nato summit today, and that his defence investment plan is “not fit for purpose.”
According to an extract released in advance, she will say:
Today Keir Starmer heads off to the most important Nato summit in a generation.
Britain has received intelligence that Russia could launch an attack on Nato as soon as 2030.
This development would put Britain in direct conflict with the world’s biggest nuclear armed state.
We could not be facing a more serious situation.
This is a critical moment in our national history, and our politics should be reflecting the gravity of the situation.
Every single party in Westminster should be talking about British national security.
But instead, we have the complete opposite.
Just at a time when Britain needs seriousness, Westminster has never been more of a pantomime.
We are sending an outgoing prime minister who is now completely powerless to that Nato summit.
And he is taking with him a defence investment plan which he knows is not fit for purpose.
With barely half of the additional funding that our armed forces need.
So little that the former defence secretary quit the government because he thought the plans would put British troops in danger.
We’re supposed to just pretend that didn’t happen.
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty commented on the video clip of Nigel Farage losing his temper with a cameraman:
Nigel Farage is rattled
A shadow of the cocky showman Reform supporters are used to, being briefed against from inside his own party and looking for an off-ramp.
Does this look like a man with the temperament to face the scrutiny of being Prime Minister?
Student loan promotion in England and Wales amounted to mis-selling, MPs say
Slideshows comparing student loan repayments with the cost of a mobile phone contract, and YouTube videos that failed to mention that loan terms could change, have been deemed mis-selling by the government, according to MPs.
Hilary Osborne reports on this issue.
The Commons Treasury committee has also published a report on the matter.
The latest episode of ’s Politics Weekly UK podcast features Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey discussing the issue of donations and the related problems. It is available here.
