Reform UK leader Nigel Farage announced Tuesday he will resign as a lawmaker and seek re-election in a special election to address allegations surrounding a significant financial gift. Farage stated he has done nothing wrong and has not misused public funds.
The probe by Parliament’s standards watchdog concerns a 5 million pound ($6.7 million) gift Farage received from a cryptocurrency billionaire based in Thailand. Opposition lawmakers have also called for an investigation into donations from George Cottrell, a figure described as an aristocratic crypto-gambling entrepreneur who previously served a prison sentence in the U.S. for fraud.
Farage made the announcement in a broadcast statement, where no independent journalists were present to film or ask questions. He asserted his innocence regarding the financial scrutiny.
His resignation from his seat in Parliament will trigger a by-election in his Clacton constituency. If he is found to have breached parliamentary rules by the standards commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, and faces a suspension of 10 days or more, a special election would be automatically triggered. Farage stated the donation from Christopher Harborne, the British businessman in Thailand, was a personal gift used for security and predated his election to the House of Commons.
Farage's anti-immigration party, Reform UK, currently holds eight seats in the 650-member House of Commons but has shown strong performance in opinion polls, often leading over the governing Labour Party and the main opposition Conservatives. The party saw success in local and regional elections in May. However, Reform UK has lost three recent special elections it had hoped to win, leading to speculation about its electoral momentum.