UK: Nigel Farage faces scrutiny over undisclosed funds linked to convicted criminal

UK's Reform's leader Nigel Farage is facing intense scrutiny following a Sunday Times investigation revealing that he received extensive undeclared financial and logistical support from George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster and long-time aide.

According to the report, Cottrell—a British aristocrat known as "Posh George"—secretly bankrolled Farage’s lifestyle and political operation in the year leading up to his election to Parliament in 2024.

The report alleges that Farage received financial benefits from a convicted fraudster and potentially breached parliamentary rules by failing to declare them.

According to the Sunday Times investigation, the Reform UK party leader did not declare benefits that included accepting security, drivers, staff and accommodation paid for by George Cottrell.

The 32 years Cottrell was jailed in the United States in 2017 for his role in a money laundering conspiracy.

The newspaper said Cottrell 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 townhouse he rented near Buckingham Palace.

While a spokesman for Farage said the story was “baseless and contrived”.

“Contrary to the story’s tone, no parliamentary rules have been broken,” he said, as cited by the Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, Josh Babarinde, ‌an MP for Britain’s Liberal Democrats party, wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Sunday, calling for an investigation into the new allegations.

“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 said in a letter he made public on X. “This is not an isolated concern.”