The tangled financial web at the heart of Reform UK
📰 source: theguardian_business · 📚 research
guardian investigation reveals tangled finances behind reform uk, centered on party leader nigel farage's £5m gift from billionaire christopher harborne and convicted fraudster george cottrell's transfers to his mother, who donated heavily.
sources say banks reported suspicious transactions to the national crime agency. cottrell lent tice's company £78,100, repaid after a £613,000 donation. his mother fiona gave britain means business £1m, half moved to the party despite banker questions. both were interviewed under caution. cottrell, a friend of farage and unpaid adviser to reform, transferred over $2m to fiona in 2024.
farage, who said he was "skint" in 2017, now owns houses and told the bbc "literally none of your business" about the gift. two parliamentary standards investigations are due in the autumn, and a met police investigation is ongoing.
why it matters: reform uk's funding web raises governance red flags as the party claims it can form the next government, with police and parliamentary probes underway.
source: theguardian_business
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