Nigel Farage has resigned as MP for Clacton, triggering a by-election he says he will fight to win back – an extraordinary move that comes as a Guardian investigation reveals multiple financial transactions involving the Reform UK leadership have been referred to the National Crime Agency.
The byelection, which Reform wants held on 6 August, is highly unusual: Farage won the Essex seat with a majority of more than 8,000 votes in 2024, and sitting MPs do not normally seek to be re-elected by their own constituents. He made clear his pitch to voters will be a chance to “stick two fingers up to the entire establishment”.
“Nigel Farage resigns as MP to force by-election as NCA probes Reform UK finances”
His announcement followed a Sunday Times report that he received financial support from a longstanding ally before becoming an MP, which he did not declare to parliamentary authorities after his election. It came after it emerged earlier this year that he separately received a £5m gift from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based British cryptocurrency investor and major Reform donor, which he also did not declare. Parliament’s standards commissioner is investigating whether he should have declared that sum.
In a video statement, Farage said he had done nothing wrong and wanted voters to judge his actions rather than journalists, adding that parliamentary investigations had become a “political tool”. He also said he spent the weekend thinking about his future after complaining about media treatment of his family.
Farage accused Labour of wanting to stall his party’s progress by changing the rules on donations, granting 16- and 17-year-olds the vote, and its later-reversed bid to delay council elections. But rival parties – Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, the Greens and Restore Britain – have decided not to stand candidates against him, branding the contest a “gimmick” and a “circus”. That leaves the field open to independents, including comedian Jon Harvey, who runs as fictional spacetraveller “Count Binface”.
Reform has offered to pay for the by-election costs, but Downing Street says candidates are not allowed to cover this.
The Guardian investigation has put Farage under further pressure. Financial industry sources revealed that at least four suspicious activity reports (SARs) have been made by bankers concerning transactions involving senior Reform leaders. SARs are a formal mechanism for reporting knowledge or suspicion of money laundering; they are not crime reports but are considered vital intelligence. Among the transfers flagged: a £1m donation to a Reform fundraising vehicle before the 2024 election, the ultimate source of which bankers and the NCA have been unable to identify. The NCA is seeking help from a foreign partner to trace it. Another £1m donation was routed to the party vehicle Britain Means Business via a convicted fraudster's mother.
The referrals range from the £5m gift from Harborne to those donations, raising questions for a major political party that its leader insists he has done nothing wrong to answer.