Farage fights more scrutiny as British police investigate donations linked to fraudster's family

MANCHESTER, England (CN) — British police are investigating 500,000 pounds ($670,000) in donations made to the far-right party Reform UK by the mother of a convicted fraudster, reports said Friday.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed they are investigating donations made before the 2024 general election after a referral from the Electoral Commission, Britain’s independent elections watchdog. Detectives have interviewed two people under caution but have made no arrests.

The inquiry, reported late Thursday night by U.K. media, adds to mounting scrutiny over Reform and its senior figures, including party leader Nigel Farage and lawmaker Robert Jenrick, as both face separate investigations into political donations.

The latest investigation comes days after Farage resigned from Parliament to trigger an Aug. 13 special election, arguing voters, not Parliament’s standards watchdog, should judge his conduct.

Britain’s major political parties have refused to contest the vote, leaving the main opponent of Farage as Count Binface, the alter-ego of comedian Jonathan Harvey, who runs wearing a cape and with a trash can on his head.

Police looking into foreign political donations

The police inquiry centers on two donations of 250,000 pounds each made by Fiona Cottrell to Reform in May 2024, weeks before the general election in which Farage won his first seat in the House of Commons.

Police said they are investigating suspected offenses under Section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which prohibits parties from accepting money from impermissible donors or concealing the true source or identity of donations.

Under British law, political donations must come from individuals registered to vote in the U.K. or U.K.-registered companies.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the investigation began in February 2025 after the Electoral Commission referred the matter.

“Detectives from the Met’s Special Enquiry Team are investigating alleged offenses,” the spokesperson said. “Early investigative advice has been sought from the Crown Prosecution Service and two people have so far been interviewed under caution. No arrests have been made.”

Reform officials have said no party representatives have been interviewed by police.

Police and parliamentary investigations

The inquiry adds to several separate investigations surrounding Reform and its senior figures as the insurgent anti-immigration party seeks to present itself as an anti-establishment movement ahead of the next general election.

Farage is already facing a parliamentary standards investigation over whether he should have declared a 5-million-pound payment from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne before the 2024 election.

Farage has said the money was an unconditional personal gift and did not require disclosure under parliamentary rules.

A second parliamentary standards investigation could also examine financial support Farage received from George Cottrell, Fiona Cottrell’s son, who paid for the Reform leader’s security and social media staff before the election.

Those benefits were not declared after Farage entered Parliament.

George Cottrell, a longtime political ally of Farage, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the United States and served eight months in prison before his release in 2017.

His lawyers said he “categorically disputes allegations and assertions” surrounding financial support for Farage.

Separately, police are investigating donations connected to the 2024 Conservative Party leadership campaign of Jenrick, who defected to Reform earlier this year.

The Electoral Commission referred claims that 37,500 pounds donated to Jenrick’s campaign originated overseas, which would breach British election law if true.

Jenrick, who unsuccessfully sought to replace former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader before joining Reform, has denied wrongdoing.

“The allegations are entirely false,” Jenrick said, adding he has had no contact with police about the investigation.

His spokesperson said suggestions Jenrick knowingly accepted impermissible donations were “an untrue, politically motivated smear.”

Aristocrat support and anti-establishment politics

The overlapping investigations have complicated Reform’s central political message that it is challenging Britain’s political establishment.

Farage has portrayed the Clacton contest as a “people versus the establishment” election after resigning while facing parliamentary standards investigations.

But the party’s financial backing has increasingly come from wealthy donors and well-connected families.

Alongside donations from Christopher Harborne, one of Britain’s wealthiest cryptocurrency investors, Reform also accepted hundreds of thousands of pounds from Fiona Cottrell, whose family comes from Britain’s aristocracy.

Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, defended the donations and dismissed the investigations as politically motivated.

“My family have known the Cottrell family and the broader Hesketh family for 50 years, a very successful aristocratic family,” Tice said.

“This is about the establishment trying to kill off a disruptive political party,” he added.

The investigations have become the backdrop to the special election in Clacton.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the resignation “a desperate stunt.” Right-wing Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, centrist Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, and left-wing Green Party leader Zack Polanski all refused to field candidates, arguing Farage was trying to distract from questions over his finances.

The boycott leaves Count Binface as Farage’s main challenger in the Aug. 13 election.

Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.

Follow @jayfranklinlive