Nigel Farage’s aide George Cottrell and his mother, Fiona Cottrell, have been interviewed under criminal caution by Scotland Yard detectives as part of an investigation into donations to Reform UK before the 2024 general election.
The Metropolitan police’s special inquiry team invited both for voluntary interviews, the Guardian understands. The investigation, launched after a referral by the Electoral Commission, is examining two £250,000 donations made by Fiona Cottrell in May 2024 – totalling £500,000 – before Farage announced he would stand as an MP.
“George Cottrell and his mother Fiona interviewed under caution by Met police over £500,000 donations to Reform UK.”
Fiona Cottrell, 67, an aristocrat who once dated Prince Charles, also sent a £1 million payment to a company belonging to Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader. Half of that sum was then donated to the party, according to reports. It has not been established where she obtained the £1 million.
Her son George, 32, a convicted fraudster known as “posh George”, has secretly bankrolled Farage’s operation in the past, covering costs from drivers to security and the use of a luxury townhouse near Buckingham Palace.
The Met’s investigation is focused on alleged offences under section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which criminalises arrangements that facilitate donations from impermissible donors or the concealment of donation sources. A Met statement said the force is examining “donations made to a political party ahead of the 2024 UK general election”.
Lawyers acting for George Cottrell said suggestions that he “has donated impermissibly to Reform UK are unfounded”. In a previous statement, they insisted his mother’s donations “have been entirely her own decision, and are a matter for her”. Fiona Cottrell has not responded to media questions.
The investigation is expected to take many more months, with police seeking disclosure of documents from banks and other financial institutions.
