Plaid Cymru urges watchdog to investigate Farage over support from convicted fraudster

Mark Mansfield

Plaid Cymru has asked Parliament’s standards watchdog to launch a formal investigation into Reform UK leader Nigel Farage after alleging he failed to declare benefits he received before becoming an MP.

The party’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts, has written to Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg requesting an investigation into whether Mr Farage breached the MPs’ Code of Conduct by failing to register support he allegedly received from businessman George Cottrell in the 12 months before the 2024 general election.

In her letter, Ms Saville Roberts points to the requirement in the Code of Conduct that newly elected MPs register “all their current financial interests, and any registrable benefits received in the 12 months before their election” within one month of entering Parliament.

She argues that reports published by The Sunday Times suggest Mr Farage accepted substantial support from Mr Cottrell during that period but failed to declare it.

The letter states that the reported benefits included “paying for his security for several years, funding three staff members to work on his social media output, paying for transport, and providing the use of his property near Buckingham Palace”.

Ms Saville Roberts says the allegations should be considered alongside an existing Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards investigation into a separate undeclared £5 million gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

In her letter, she writes: “The pattern of undeclared benefits from Mr Cottrell, combined with the substantial financial involvement of Christopher Harborne, and the nature of the sectors from which both men derived their wealth meets the threshold at which an investigation into Nigel Farage MP’s conduct should be held.”

According to The Sunday Times, Mr Cottrell recruited and paid three members of staff to work on Mr Farage’s social media operation before the 2024 general election. The newspaper also reported that he paid for Mr Farage’s security, covered transport costs and allowed him continued use of a five-storey Georgian townhouse near Buckingham Palace.

Under parliamentary rules in force at the time, newly elected MPs were required to declare gifts worth more than £300 received during the previous 12 months where they could reasonably be considered connected to their political activities.

Mr Cottrell was jailed in the United States in 2017 after pleading guilty to wire fraud following an FBI sting operation in which undercover agents posed as drug traffickers seeking money laundering services. He originally faced multiple charges before reaching a plea agreement and served eight months in prison.

‘Hit job’

Mr Farage has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the allegations as an “establishment hit job”.

In a statement issued on Sunday, 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 has also defended its leader.

The party’s Treasury spokesman, Robert Jenrick, described Mr Cottrell as “an old friend” of Mr Farage and said he had “no formal role within Reform”.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Jenrick acknowledged that Mr Cottrell had funded security and staff for Mr Farage in 2024 but said this had taken place before he became an MP.

Following his election as MP for Clacton, Mr Farage registered a £9,000 trip to Belgium funded by Mr Cottrell and later amended his register to include a £15,000 domestic flight in the United States. No other support from Mr Cottrell has been declared.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have also called for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to examine the support allegedly provided by Mr Cottrell as part of the existing investigation.

‘Level with the public’

Labour Party chair Anna Turley said Mr Farage needed to “level with the public” about the financial assistance he had received.

She said: “Nigel Farage must come out of hiding and level with the public. It’s time he stopped blaming the media and took responsibility for his actions.”

Labour peer Harriet Harman also criticised Mr Farage’s description of the investigation as an “establishment hit job”, arguing that the standards system exists to ensure “the public can know that the establishment, in terms of people with lots of money, are not buying their members of parliament”.

If the Parliamentary Commissioner concludes Mr Farage breached the rules, possible sanctions range from an apology to suspension from the House of Commons. A suspension of sufficient length could trigger a recall petition and potentially a by-election in his Clacton constituency.