Nigel Farage is making a statement on his "future in public life" after renewed scrutiny over financial support he has received - watch live at the top of the page
At the weekend, the Sunday Times accused Farage of not declaring benefits, including staff and security, received from long-time ally George Cottrell
The Reform UK leader denied wrongdoing and said he was considering legal action against the newspaper
He has also faced questions about a £5m gift from Reform UK donor Christopher Harborne in early 2024 which he did not register
Farage has said the money was for his personal security, and "wasn't political in any sense at all"
Nigel Farage says he has done "nothing wrong" and has not "broken the law in any way at all".
He says over the last 10 years he has been writing, lecturing, broadcasting and investing. Farage says that he has "financially done well" adding "making money is not a crime".
We will bring you more from his statement soon.
Image source, Reform UKNigel Farage's video statement has now started.
You can watch live at the top of the page.
Nigel Farage will shortly make a statement on his "future in public life".
We'll be listening for key lines and will bring you updates here.
You can also tap watch live above to follow along at home.
The address is being broadcast directly by Reform UK on its YouTube channel and will be carried by the BBC. Members of the media, including from the BBC, will not be present to put questions to Farage.
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
It is unclear what Farage will say, and that is likely to be the case until he starts speaking.
The context, though, is clear — months of scrutiny, which has intensified in recent days, about gifts and support he received in the year before becoming an MP in 2024.
The parliamentary standards watchdog is investigating whether Farage should have declared a £5 million gift he received from the cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
After a Sunday Times investigation, that could be expanded to assess whether he should have declared support provided by George Cottrell, who was jailed for fraud in the US in 2017.
Farage has consistently denied wrongdoing in both cases, arguing that what he received from both men was unrelated to his political activity with Reform.
In recent weeks Farage has displayed extreme displeasure at facing questions from the media about these cases, as well as the manner in which he has been asked to comment.
Image source, PA MediaYesterday, Nigel Farage accused Sky News of harassing his family during its coverage of his finances.
The Reform UK leader was returning from Independence Day celebrations in the US when a reporter for the outlet asked if it had been a mistake not to declare gifts from George Cottrell.
Farage did not directly answer the question, instead telling the reporter that if Sky News "harass my family any more" there would be "serious consequences".
In a subsequent broadcast, the channel said it "has not contacted anyone from Nigel Farage's family about this story" - which Farage later described on X as an "outright lie".
"They hounded my daughter at home, just days after The Times published where my family live," he wrote on X Monday.
"Despicable behaviour from the media."
The George Cottrell allegations (see our previous post) are not the only questions Nigel Farage is facing about his finances.
Since May, he has been under investigation by Parliament's standards commissioner for not declaring a £5m gift he received from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based British cryptocurrency investor, before his election.
Farage has argued the gift was "personal", and for his security. He has said he did not need to declare it because he received it before he was elected as Clacton MP, and it was not political.
Asked by BBC Breakfast last month how much of the £5m he had spent on security, he said: "No, I'm not going to answer that deliberately, wilfully.
"It's not your business at the BBC to put me in danger therefore I will not answer it."
Watch: Farage quizzed over a £5m gift from a billionaire Reform UK donor
Image source, Getty ImagesNigel Farage with long-time ally George Cottrell at a European Parliament session in January 2020
Nigel Farage is facing various questions about his finances.
The latest came at the weekend, when the Sunday Times accused him of not properly declaring support from George Cottrell - a long-time ally who was jailed for fraud in the US in 2017.
The newspaper reported that Cottrell's support included paying for Farage's security, and staff who worked on his social media content, in the year before his election.
Farage also reportedly used a property near Buckingham Palace rented by Cottrell.
The Reform UK leader insists he has "followed the rules", claims he is the victim of an "establishment hit job", and says he is considering legal action against the paper.
Farage has been referred to the parliamentary standards commissioner by Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde.
Under parliamentary rules, new MPs must declare financial interests and "registrable benefits" received in the 12 months before their election.
The guidelines say purely personal gifts or benefits do not need to be registered.
When he became an MP, Farage registered a £9,253 trip to Belgium in April 2024 donated by Cottrell, and later added a £15,276 donation from Cottrell for a US domestic flight he provided in December 2024.
No other support from Cottrell is listed in the Register of Members' Financial Interests., external
Chris Mason
Political editor
Once again, the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is in the news and at the heart of the headlines are power, transparency and money.
Vast amounts of money, in the view of his critics far too little transparency, and a party that opinion polls suggest is the favourite to win power at the next general election.
The ongoing swirl of stories about Farage has put him on the back foot – he has been much less visible in front of the cameras and has come across as uncomfortable, even irritable, at the questions thrown his way as a result.
His argument is none of this relates to taxpayers' money and it collectively amounts to ongoing attempts to undermine both him and Reform UK.
But it does relate to huge quantities of money and big questions about what that money can buy – particularly given the connections to cryptocurrency and Farage's long standing desire to liberalise the UK's approach to digital currencies.
The Reform leader has long argued his views on crypto are long standing and gifts buy nothing in terms of influence.
In truth, all of this is what scrutiny looks like when you are a candidate for prime minister, as Nigel Farage is.
And for the first time in a long time, Reform's political rivals spot a party encountering turbulence.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says he will make a statement at 14:00 BST on his "future in public life", after questions about his finances.
This weekend, a report in the Sunday Times accused him of receiving undeclared benefits, including staff and security, from George Cottrell - a key ally who admitted wire fraud in the US and was jailed in 2017.
Farage denies wrongdoing and says he is considering legal action against the paper. We'll have more details in upcoming posts.
Farage has also been under investigation by Parliament’s standards commissioner since May for not disclosing a £5m gift from British cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne, received before his election as MP. We'll bring you more on that row soon.
Stay with us for Farage's statement - and all the reaction and analysis.
