British Labour calls for elections watchdog to investigate Farage finances

The British elections watchdog has been urged to investigate Nigel Farage over financial support given to him by a convicted fraudster.

The Reform UK leader is under pressure following reports that long-term ally George Cottrell had provided funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected.

The British Labour Party has asked the Electoral Commission to investigate whether the support should have been declared because Farage was a prominent figure in Reform even before he returned to frontline politics.

The party also questioned whether Montenegro-based Cottrell was a permissible donor, claiming it was not clear whether he was on a UK electoral register at the time.

British Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley wrote to the Electoral Commission to call for an investigation.

She said: “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.”

But Farage appeared to have won the backing of US president Donald Trump in his fight against what the Reform leader called an “establishment hit job”.

Farage said he has “done no wrongdoing” after The Sunday Times UK investigation into his ties with Cottrell.

Trump appeared to indicate his backing for Farage.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the US leader shared a link to an article on The National Pulse website titled They’re Running the 2024 Anti-Trump Playbook on Nigel Farage.

Trump personally called Farage to congratulate him on his political success in achieving the removal of Keir Starmer from No 10, The Times UK reported.

As well as British Labour’s call for the elections watchdog to intervene, the Liberal Democrats have already demanded a parliamentary sleaze inquiry.

Under rules in place at the time of Farage’s election in 2024, new MPs were required to register any gifts worth more than £300 they received in the previous 12 months, except where the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.

Cottrell reportedly recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media before the general election, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian property he rented near Buckingham Palace.

The Liberal Democrats have called for Parliament’s standards commissioner, who is already investigating a £5 million (€5.85 million) gift the MP received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne, to examine the support.

Farage reacted angrily when approached at an airport by a Sky News journalist asking whether it had been a mistake not to declare gifts from the ally.

“You tell your bosses, you harass my family any more… serious consequences. That’s what your organisation has done this morning. Go away,” he said.

Sky said it had not contacted anyone from Farage’s family about the story.

The Reform leader on Sunday issued a statement saying he had not broken any rules.

He said: “I have done no wrongdoing, followed the rules and I am now considering legal action against The Sunday Times.

“It’s now clear the establishment will stop at nothing to hurt Reform – we want to smash their cosy consensus.”

Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick has said Cottrell is an “old friend” of Farage and has “no formal role within Reform”.

Cottrell was jailed for eight months in the US in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud after admitting attempting to defraud criminals on the dark web by masquerading as a money launderer.

He was arrested as he and Farage travelled back to Britain after a trip to the US.

Cottrell reportedly remains a close adviser to Farage after first becoming involved in Ukip as a volunteer in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.

Parliament’s standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg is already investigating whether Farage should have registered an undisclosed £5 million (€5.85 million) gift from Thai-based billionaire Harborne.

If found to have breached the rules, Farage could face sanctions including a Commons suspension that could trigger a recall petition and a by-election in his seat.

The Reform leader has repeatedly said that he was not required to register the gift, which he has said was purely personal.