Farage accuses ‘establishment’ of co-ordinated fightback against Reform
David Lynch, Press Association Political Correspondent
Nigel Farage has claimed Reform UK is up against a “complainant society”, as he faces ongoing scrutiny about funding both he and his party have received.
The Reform leader, speaking to the BBC ahead of his party’s conference in Birmingham this week, suggested he believed a “whole ecosystem” of the establishment was out to attack the “new kids on the block”.
Mr Farage faced persistent questions over the summer about the party’s finances, as well as £5 million he received from a cryptocurrency billionaire ahead of the last general election.
He indicated to the BBC he will soon be interviewed by Parliament’s standards commissioner, who is investigating whether Mr Farage should have declared the £5 million from Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne in his register of MP interests, because the sum was given shortly before the 2024 election.
Mr Farage insisted he had taken “strong legal advice” on it, adding: “This was purely personal. It was given, no strings attached.
“It was unconditional, but the intention was very clear that I am someone who the state, despite being asked repeatedly to help, just refuses to do so, and I’m going to need a degree of security for as long as I live, it’s just as simple as that.
“It wasn’t a political donation. It wasn’t used to fight a campaign or anything like that.
“So I think my judgment was right. Anyway, if they find me guilty, they find me guilty of not filling in a piece of paper.”
Mr Farage was also questioned about support provided by George Cottrell, a long-term ally who was once convicted of fraud in the US.
Mr Cottrell reportedly recruited and paid three staff to work on Mr 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.
His mother Fiona Cottrell has meanwhile donated large sums to Reform on several occasions, with several media outlets having questioned the ultimate source of the cash.
Mr Farage told the BBC he believed the money was Mrs Cottrell’s, telling the broadcaster: “I absolutely believe her when she says it was her money.”
Investigation
Pressed whether he was certain of this, the Reform leader replied: “I have been told it’s her money, so do I know? Yes, I believe I know as much as I possibly can.
“Point is, we live in a complainant society. If you complain about me, automatically that triggers an investigation.
“So we’re under investigation every day for virtually everything we do, because the other political parties are constantly writing to all the authorities.
“There’s a big picture here. The old two-party system that has dominated, frankly, since the end of the First World War, feels for the first time it faces an existential threat.
“Think about what goes with that. It isn’t just being an MP. It isn’t just about being in government. It’s who goes to the House of Lords, who heads up the Quangos, who gets the government contracts.
“There is a whole ecosystem with a century of development around this, and we come along from virtually nowhere and threaten the whole thing.
“So I think what you’re seeing is the establishment in a very co-ordinated way fighting back. But do you know something? It isn’t going to work.”
Asked whether he believed his comments sounded conspiratorial, Mr Farage replied: “Look, this is the way humanity works.
“If you’ve got a new idea in business, in science, in politics, all through the centuries, the establishment that exists will attack you, and that’s what’s been happening since those dramatic results we had on May 7.
“Am I surprised by it? Not particularly.”
Wealthy backers
As he faced questions about donations to Reform, Mr Farage also vowed that he would not seek to place wealthy backers of his party in the House of Lords.
Asked if it matters where Reform gets its cash, he told the BBC: “I think the fact that we’re not offering any peerages. I mean, just have a look at the last 30 years of British politics.
“You give money, you get a peerage. Can I promise you something? All the big donors that have given money to Reform, not a single one of them will go to the House of Lords. Not one. I promise you.”
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I wish this hideous person would disappear out of my life. Odious little fascist scumvthat he is
Sorry Nigel, it’s not an attack on the ‘new kid on the block’. You’ve been around far too long for that. It’s just that people have finally wised up to the jocular ‘ man-of-the- people’ act and realised, that behind the act is a con-man, intent on separating Reform’s glullible idiots from their money and perfectly willing to sell himself to the highest bidder, no matter whatever kind of rogue that bidder is