Nigel Farage admits George Cottrell paid for filming and let him use his home

Nigel Farage with George Cottrell (right in dark glasses) in 2019. Photograph: Mark Kerrison/Alamy View image in fullscreen Nigel Farage with George Cottrell (right in dark glasses) in 2019. Photograph: Mark Kerrison/Alamy Nigel Farage admits George Cottrell paid for filming and let him use his home Reform leader says support from fraudster before last election is ‘totally undeclarable in every single way’ Nigel Farage has admitted his close friend the fraudster George Cottrell let him use one of his London homes and paid for social media filming before the last election but insisted it was “totally undeclarable in every single way”. The Reform UK leader spoke in depth for the first time about his support from Cottrell and the £5m gift from the Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne in an interview with the anti-woke Triggernometry podcast. He acknowledged the parliamentary standards system could find against him but claimed he had sought advice from a “top international lawyer” who told him the £5m did not need to be declared because it was unconditional. In relation to Cottrell, Farage said his friend had given him nothing since he was elected in July 2024 and that financial support before then was “irrelevant” and unrelated to politics. The Reform UK leader also claimed his party was being unfairly targeted over a £500,000 donation to the party from Cottrell’s mother, Fiona, which is now under investigation by the police over whether she is the true source of the funding. However, in an apparent slip of the tongue, Farage referred to it as being a donation from Cottrell himself, before correcting himself to say that it was from his mother, as he made the case that it was a conspiracy against the party. “The idea that his donation – it was his mother’s donation – this was reported to the NCA in September 2024. The police followed up in the spring of 2025. Why is it now a story? It’s now a story because everything is being coordinated together to try and knock us out of the game. That’s why I’m fighting this byelection. I’m saying: let the people decide.” Farage’s support in kind from Cottrell and the £5m from Harborne just before the last election are currently under investigation by the standards commissioner over whether they should have been publicly registered. Financial support has to be declared within 12 months of an MP being elected if it has any link to their political activities. Although the standards commissioner has not yet reported back, Farage has called a byelection in his constituency of Clacton to let voters decide if they want him as MP, although it is being boycotted by the major parties. He could face a second byelection if the commissioner finds against him and the penalty is enough to trigger a recall petition. On the financial support he took from Cottrell before July 2024, Farage told the podcast: “At that period of my life, from 2021 to 3 June 2024, I was a broadcaster, I was someone that appeared on celebrity