A man in his 20s has been arrested over an alleged threat to shoot the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, made in a social media post. The arrest comes as Farage has been calling for better security for Reform MPs.
The development, reported by Channel 4 News, follows the publication of a New Statesman article that details the criminal past of George Cottrell, a man described as a “very close friend” of Farage. On 1 March 2017, a 23-year-old Cottrell appeared before a judge in Phoenix, Arizona, wearing an orange jumpsuit and escorted by armed guards. He had been indicted on 21 counts including conspiracy to commit money laundering, mail fraud, wire fraud, blackmail and interstate communication with intent to extort.
“A man in his 20s has been arrested over an alleged threat to shoot Nigel Farage, as the Reform UK leader called for better security.”
According to the article, Cottrell had offered to participate in a scheme to launder millions of dollars from drug trafficking – but the supposed traffickers were law-enforcement agents. He submitted a plea agreement in which he admitted: “I falsely claimed that I would launder the criminal proceeds… I intended to retain the money.” He escaped all but one charge, wire fraud.
The judge remarked that Cottrell’s plan was sophisticated and “very dangerous”, but noted his youth. “This does not need to define you”, she told him. “And so it’s up to you to go forward from here.” By that summer, Cottrell was back in London, where he was photographed outside a pub with Farage.
The New Statesman article, headlined “What George Cottrell knows about money laundering”, appears in the 15 July 2026 issue. No further details have been released about the man arrested over the alleged threat to Farage.
