Rules broken' over criminal's financial support to Farage, says Reform

Rules broken' over criminal's financial support to Farage, says Reform reports that Reform UK is disputing whether Nigel Farage breached MPs’ rules after receiving financial backing tied to convicted aide George Cottrell. Reform’s treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick said no rules were broken because the support was provided before Farage became a Member of Parliament, after Farage entered Parliament in 2024. The Sunday Times said Cottrell funded staffing, security and housing and had Farage using a five-storey Georgian townhouse near Buckingham Palace. Jenrick said Farage registered a £9,000 trip to Belgium donated by Cottrell and later added £15,000 for a domestic US flight, but no other support. Cottrell was jailed for eight months in 2017 in the US after pleading guilty to wire fraud tied to alleged attempts to defraud criminals via the dark web. The Liberal Democrats asked the standards commissioner to examine whether Farage met the MPs’ code of conduct, while Health Secretary James Murray referenced a “flexible relationship with transparency.”