London, United Kingdom – Far-right politician Nigel Farage is resigning as a member of parliament after revelations about his financial backers, triggering a by-election in which he plans to stand as a candidate.
In a fiery speech on Tuesday, the Reform UK party leader railed against “the establishment” and insisted he has “done nothing wrong” amid
growing scrutiny of his funding.
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“I’ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” Farage said, referring to the constituency where he was elected as an MP.
“This will be a people vs the establishment by-election,” he said. “It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go.”
Farage, who has led Reform into the mainstream with zealous anti-immigration rhetoric, said he faces “yet another standards investigation” after The Sunday Times
revealed he did not declare benefits paid for by a convicted fraudster.
The Sunday Times reported George Cottrell, 32, recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media before the 2024 general election and has continued to allow Farage to use a five-storey Georgian townhouse he rented near Buckingham Palace.
In 2017, Cottrell was jailed in the United States for his role in a money-laundering conspiracy.
But Farage doubled down that the benefits were for personal use, charging that parliamentary “standards are now being used as a political tool”.
“I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money,” he said, adding, “Making money is not a crime.”
The parliamentary standards commission is already investigating Farage for accepting 5 million pounds ($6.8m) from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, a gift Farage initially said would fund his private security.
The Reform leader said his resignation was fuelled by what he characterised as threats to his family’s “privacy and safety” since The Sunday Times report.
“I am going to need security for the rest of my life, and I cannot even tell you how grateful I am to Christopher Harborne because now I will never, ever need to worry about whether I’ve got the resource,” he said.
<small>Source: Al Jazeera</small>
