How Nigel Farage Accidentally Picked a Fight With a Bin

England vs Mexico. American Entitlement vs Belgium. Mbappé vs that insanely racist senator from Paraguay. This has been a summer in which the spirit of competition has provided us with the kind of rollicking entertainment usually reserved for the Christmas episode of Eastenders. Perhaps, like me, you’re feeling a touch melancholy as the finals loom ever closer, reminding us that soon, it’ll all be over. But our ruling class is nothing if not benevolent, and there is one more treat in store before it’s back-to-school time: Nigel Farage vs a bin.

This week, Nigel Farage announced that he would be triggering a by-election in Clacton, in what he dubbed a contest of “the people versus the establishment”. Unfortunately, so far, the establishment have failed to turn up: the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and the Greens have all declined to stand candidates. Nigel Farage, therefore, is going head-to-head against Count Binface (an intergalactic space warrior/comedian). Gotta love British democracy.

So, what prompted the Reform UK leader to risk his seat, when his party is still top in the polls? Contrary to what Jessie J might say, it’s all about the money, money, money. Nigel Farage has found himself mired in scandal over donations (or, as he prefers to call them, personal gifts) made by high net-worth individuals. These generous souls include Christopher Harborne, a crypto billionaire based in Thailand, and ‘Posh’ George Cottrell, an aristocratic fraudster.

The sums of money involved are fairly eye-watering. In 2024 (when Nigel Farage was the chairman of Reform, but not yet an MP), Harborne gave the arch-Brexiteer £5m. Meanwhile George Cottrell, who is said to call Nigel “Daddy”, was funding aspects of Farage’s operation including private security, staff, transport and accommodation. These donations, whether cash money or benefits-in-kind, were undeclared on Farage’s register of interests, despite being made in the year leading up to his candidacy as an MP.

This morning it was announced that Posh George’s mum – Fiona Cottrell – is being investigated by police over half a million pounds worth of donations to Reform. Scotland Yard is looking into whether two payments of £250,000 made in May 2024 were used to disguise a donation from an impermissible source.

But it doesn’t stop there. An awful lot more money appears to be swirling about between a tight network of individuals in and around Reform. In December 2024, George Cottrell lent £78,100 to Tisun Investments, a company controlled by Reform’s Deputy Leader, Richard Tice. What followed was a sequence of transactions that would make your head spin.

That same day, Tice sent about £92,000 towards the purchase of a property in Dubai, prompting bankers to question whether the two transactions were connected. Further payments later brought the total to around £650,000, and bankers alerted the National Crime Agency. Then, in January 2025, Tisun donated £613,000 to Reform UK. The following month, the company received £655,000, described as a refund for an overpayment after Tice financed the Dubai property with a mortgage rather than cash. Tice then sent £80,000 back to Cottrell, apparently repaying the loan. Bankers reportedly believe the sequence warrants investigation, while the Cottrell loan does not appear in Tisun’s Companies House filings or Tice’s parliamentary disclosures.

What’s more, in the past year, Cottrell nabbed an £8.5m Chelsea property from Reform treasurer Nick Candy, with Land Registry records listing the purchase price as zero. Candy said Cottrell paid by purchasing shares in a Guernsey-registered offshore company, but declined to disclose the value of the deal.

No arrests have been made, nor has the Parliamentary Standards Committee made any judgement regarding the propriety of these transactions. Nigel Farage is understood to vociferously deny any wrongdoing.

Though it would be a wonderful thing for Count Binface to take a seat in the Commons, it’s unlikely that Farage will lose the Clacton by-election. But it’s clear that the Reform UK leader is more vulnerable than he has ever been in his political career to date. These investigations come at the most inopportune time. Keir Starmer, a gift to rival party leaders everywhere, is about to leave office – and Andy Burnham, his anointed successor, has personal favorability ratings which eclipse Farage’s. Reform were set to steam-roller Starmer’s Labour in 2029; but fighting an election earlier, potentially even in 2027, against a new Labour leadership is that bit more challenging.