Reform denies Farage broke rules over ally’s support

Reform UK has denied Nigel Farage broke parliamentary rules after reports that he failed to declare support from George Cottrell, a longtime ally who was jailed in the United States in 2017 after pleading guilty to wire fraud.

The Sunday Times reported that Cottrell provided benefits to Farage in the year before he was elected as MP for Clacton in July 2024, including security, drivers, staff who worked on his social media content and accommodation at a property near Buckingham Palace. The newspaper said Cottrell recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media before the general election, and reported that Farage used a five-storey Georgian townhouse Cottrell rented near Buckingham Palace.

Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, told the BBC that Farage did not need to declare the support because it was provided in a “purely personal capacity” before he became an MP.

“No rules have been broken whatsoever,” Jenrick said on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. He described Cottrell as an “old friend” of Farage and said Cottrell “did give support to Nigel before he was a Member of Parliament” but “hasn’t done so since he became a Member of Parliament.”

Jenrick said Farage had “absolutely” received help from Cottrell with staffing costs, including security, before entering Parliament. “You’re allowed to accept a gift, support, whatever you want to call it, from a personal friend before you’re a Member of Parliament if it’s in a purely personal capacity,” he said. “So there is absolutely nothing to see in this story.”

Asked whether Farage stayed at a townhouse rented by Cottrell, Jenrick said: “I believe Nigel has said that he stayed a couple of times there, very infrequently, as you’re allowed to.” But a source cited by the BBC denied Farage received accommodation from Cottrell and said the MP did not stay at the London property. The source also said Reform paid for Farage’s security and staff after he returned to politics.

Farage’s spokesman called the Sunday Times report “baseless and contrived” and said it covered “a period of time when Nigel Farage was not even an active politician let alone an elected one.” The spokesman added: “Contrary to the story’s tone, no parliamentary rules have been broken.”

The Liberal Democrats have asked Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg to investigate. Lib Dem MP Josh Babarinde said in a public letter that “given the value and nature of the support described, there is a serious question as to whether Mr. Farage met his obligations under the Code of Conduct for MPs.” He added: “This is not an isolated concern.”

Under parliamentary rules, new MPs must declare financial interests and “registrable benefits” received in the 12 months before their election. The BBC reported that the guidelines say purely personal gifts or benefits do not need to be registered. Al Jazeera reported that the MPs’ code requires new members to declare any benefit worth more than 300 pounds, or about $400, received in that period if it is “in any way” related to political activities, and that benefits should be declared if there is doubt about the donor’s motives.

Farage registered a 9,253-pound trip to Belgium in April 2024 donated by Cottrell after becoming an MP, and later added a 15,276-pound donation from Cottrell for a U.S. domestic flight provided in December 2024. No other support from Cottrell is listed in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, the BBC reported.

Cottrell, 32, was involved with UKIP as a volunteer before the Brexit referendum. In 2017, he was jailed for eight months in the U.S. after admitting he attempted to defraud criminals on the dark web by posing as a money launderer. The Sunday Times described him as a cryptocurrency entrepreneur involved with offshore gambling website Tether.bet.

Farage is already under investigation by Greenberg over a 5 million-pound gift from British cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne in early 2024. Farage has said the money was for personal security and was “purely private” and “wasn’t political in any sense at all.”