Nigel Farage faces fresh scrutiny over secret Reform UK leadership deal
The agreement was negotiated with then-leader Richard Tice in March and April 2024, and was overseen by George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster who had been giving money to Farage.
Under the terms of the pact, once Farage resumed the leadership, Reform would repay or write off more than £1 million in outstanding loans the party had received from Tice’s company.
The deal was first presented to the party’s treasurer in mid-May 2024, the Sunday Times reports, appearing to contradict Farage’s claim that he only decided to return to frontline politics in June.
Farage has used that timeline to defend his failure to declare a £5 million gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne and in-kind support from Cottrell, arguing he was a media personality, not a politician, before June 3, 2024.
MPs are required to declare any benefits connected to their political activities received in the 12 months before election, but Farage has insisted he did not need to because he was not yet in politics.
A party source told the Sunday Times that the agreement was drafted to cover the possibility of Farage’s return, not a certainty, and that he initially planned to focus on campaigning for Donald Trump in the US election.
Mehrtash A’Zami, Reform’s treasurer at the time, said he was told about the arrangement before the election was called and was reportedly instructed to implement a schedule of repayments once Farage came back.
The disclosures also raise fresh questions about Reform’s compliance with electoral law, at a time when the party is already subject to a Metropolitan Police investigation into the source of its donations.
The Sunday Times reports that on June 10, 2024 — the date of the first repayment under the deal — Reform sent £200,000 to a personal account belonging to Tice, rather than to his company, Tisun Investments, which had originally lent the money.
Electoral Commission filings reportedly state that the company was paid, not Tice personally, which could amount to a potential criminal offence if the information provided was incorrect.
Party sources reportedly said that officials later realised the error and proposed telling the watchdog, but the Electoral Commission was never informed, and accounts were filed suggesting the company had been repaid.
Then-Reform treasurer A’Zami said he relied on his staff to process the payment and only learned later that the money had gone to Tice’s personal account; he claimed he tried to notify the commission but was stopped.
By February 2025, A’Zami had left the party and returned to business in Dubai, following disagreements over the handling of payments and invoices, according to the Sunday Times.
Farage, who stood down as MP for Clacton following backlash over his ties to Cottrell, is now seeking re-election in a by‑election and faces two parliamentary investigations into undisclosed benefits.
A Reform spokesman dismissed the latest claims as “misinformation” based on unlawfully obtained documents or “mischief-making by disgruntled former staff”, and said all relevant repayments were declared to the Electoral Commission.
Technology & Business Editor
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