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Get you up to speed: Why has UK Reform’s Nigel Farage resigned as MP? What happens next?
Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, has resigned from his parliamentary seat amid allegations of undeclared donations, prompting a by-election in Clacton, eastern England. Other major political parties have confirmed they will not contest the by-election.
An investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is focused on a £5 million undeclared donation from Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. Although other parties have opted not to contest the impending by-election, Labour has referred the related allegations to the Electoral Commission.
Following Nigel Farage’s resignation from parliament, opposition parties, including Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats, have refused to contest the upcoming by-election, labelling it a “political stunt”. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper stated that “nobody is going to get drawn into what is a political stunt” as the investigation into Farage’s funding remains paused during this period.
What remains unclear — The outcome of the parliamentary investigation into Nigel Farage’s funding allegations is yet to be determined.
Nigel Farage resigns as MP amid scrutiny over undeclared donations before by-election
EXPLAINERNews|ElectionsWhy has UK Reform’s Nigel Farage resigned as MP? What happens next?
Farage faces intense scrutiny over undeclared donations before the 2024 elections as other parties say they will not field candidates in by-election.
Published On 8 Jul 20268 Jul 2026
The leader of the far-right, anti-immigration Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, has resigned from his seat in parliament and plans to stand again for his constituency amid allegations that he received and failed to declare millions of dollars in donations.
The surprise announcement came on Tuesday as Farage faced the possibility of a parliamentary investigation into at least two funding scandals. A finding against him could have seen Farage suspended from parliament, possibly triggering a recall petition and a by-election in his constituency, Clacton, in eastern England.
By stepping down preemptively, the Reform leader, whose popularity has soared over the past two years and who is now viewed as a favourite to be the next prime minister, has triggered a by-election on his own terms – in which he himself can stand.
“The people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions,” Farage said on Tuesday. “This will be a people vs the establishment by-election.”
Farage added: “I will fight to win.”
Other parties have already stated that they will not field candidates for a by-election Farage triggers.
The right-wing populist leader has been one of the loudest anti-immigration voices in the United Kingdom and was key to securing victory for the Brexit movement. His Reform party currently has just eight of 650 parliament seats but has been leading in opinion polls as anti-migrant sentiments flare in the UK. Last year, a YouGov poll found that Reform would likely win a general election were one to be held then.
In May, Labour lost massively to Reform in elections in Wales and Scotland and 136 local council elections in England. While Reform gained more than 1,450 seats, including in Labour strongholds, the governing party lost more than 1,460 seats, giving a strong indication of the surge in support for Reform across the country.
Here’s what we know:
Opposition Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey, centre, stands in front of a billboard showing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as he unveils a national campaign to mark the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum in London on June 23, 2026 [Kin Cheung/AP]
What is the funding scandal surrounding Nigel Farage?
Farage is facing an investigation by parliament into donations, including allegations he received undeclared money for his campaign.
Receiving gifts is not against parliament’s code of conduct, but failing to declare them can be.
The main investigation is one conducted by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards into a 5-million-pound ($6.7m) undeclared donation Farage received from Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne before announcing his candidacy in the 2024 general election.
On Tuesday, The Guardian newspaper said bankers had reported the donation to the National Crime Agency as potentially laundered money.
Farage has claimed the money was a personal gift, he received it before being elected to parliament and, therefore, it does not breach parliamentary rules.
“I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money,” Farage said on Tuesday.
Separately, an investigation by The Sunday Times this week found that Farage received donations from convicted fraudster, cryptocurrency entrepreneur and longtime ally George Cottrell for security and staffing before the 2024 elections.
Cottrell, who has served as Farage’s aide in the past, was arrested in the US in 2016 while travelling with Farage on charges that he had offered to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug traffickers. He served eight months in prison and was released in March 2017.
Responding to the allegations on Sunday, Farage said he had done “nothing wrong” and was considering legal action against The Sunday Times.
On Monday, United States President Donald Trump, an ally of Farage, appeared to back the politician in a post on his Truth Social platform by sharing a link to an article headlined: “They’re running the 2024 anti-Trump playbook on Nigel Farage.”
Farage appears with newly elected councillors and MP Andrew Rosindell after local elections in the London Borough of Havering on May 8, 2026 [File: Jack Taylor/Reuters]
Why are other parties refusing to contest a by-election?
The ruling Labour Party and opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have all accused Farage of “playing games” and said they will not put candidates forward in a by-election.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Farage’s announcement was a “desperate stunt” because the Reform politician was “up to his neck in sleaze”. The Labour Party has already referred the Cottrell case to the Electoral Commission.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC: “Nobody is going to get drawn into what is a political stunt by Nigel Farage because he wants to duck and dive around the rules that apply to everyone.”
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservatives, said her party “will not be standing a candidate in the fake by-election that Farage is causing to distract people from what is happening”.
While the parliamentary investigation into his affairs will be on hold for the duration of a by-election, it would resume if he regains his seat, which he is expected to do.
He comfortably secured more than 40 percent of the vote in Clacton in 2024 and will not face opposition from major parties in 2026.
If he’s re-elected, he could still be suspended and yet another election could be called in Clacton, this time without him as a candidate.
What has Reform UK said about all this?
Reform UK has sounded a defiant tone amid the scandal.
Deputy leader Richard Tice told UK media channel TALK that Farage will “receive a dramatically increased majority” in the by-election and the numbers will “prove to the rest of the electorate that more people want to vote for Nigel and Reform because they recognise that Britain is broken”.
In a post on X, the party said: “For too long the establishment in Westminster has passed judgement on Nigel Farage’s political integrity.”
“It’s time for the people of Clacton to decide,” it added.
Reform has also said it will pay for the by-election in Clacton in what critics say is an attempt to deflect claims it is wasting taxpayers’ money.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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