Farage cries ‘witch-hunt’ but this may be Reform’s Partygate moment

Nigel Farage holds a press conference in April. The Reform leader is being investigated by the standards watchdog. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Nigel Farage holds a press conference in April. The Reform leader is being investigated by the standards watchdog. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images Analysis Farage cries ‘witch-hunt’ but this may be Reform’s Partygate moment Rowena Mason Whitehall editor Media scrutiny of party leader’s finances has undermined his claim to be a politician in tune with typical voters UK politics live – latest updates With his personal funding once again under media scrutiny, Nigel Farage , the rightwing Reform UK party leader, is adamant he is the victim of an “establishment plot” trying to stop him from reaching Downing Street. This time, Farage is facing questions about support for his lifestyle from the convicted criminal George Cottrell, just months after it was revealed by the Guardian that he also took £5m from the cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne as a personal gift. The accusation that shadowy actors and political opponents within the establishment are against him are being levelled not only against Farage, but a range of his outriders from former donor Arron Banks , to Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice. Andy Wigmore, an associate of Farage from his Brexit campaign days and now on the board of his anti-World Health Organization pressure group, claimed that the news was “[an] old story and irrelevant – Farage was not even elected, not in politics and guess what, the public don’t trust the media witch-hunt against Farage … same playbook against Farage as we witnessed against Trump, didn’t work with Trump won’t work with Farage.” This conspiracy theory – that legitimate journalism investigating a senior politician’s finances is a “plot” or “witch-hunt” – does indeed appear to be straight out of the Donald Trump campaign playbook. Fans of the US president repeatedly made parallel claims in relation to attempts to impeach him during his first presidency. But the political genesis of this phrase goes back even further than Trump, who has since become the master of whipping up popular feeling against “the establishment”. Back in 2014, before Trump’s first ascent to power, Farage repeatedly claimed there was an “establishment plot” to undermine him after newspapers questioned his use of expenses and funding from the EU while he was a member of its parliament. View image in fullscreen Farage, who was an MEP for more than two decades, takes part in a European parliament debate in 2016. Photograph: Vincent Kessler/Reuters Time and again, when Farage’s political funding is put under the spotlight, his response has been to claim that dark forces are at work to prevent him getting to the top of politics – rather than acknowledging that his approach to declaring donations and interests has been cavalier at best. While an MEP, he had his pay docked for misspending European parliame