‘Serious consequences’: Farage attacks Sky News after question about George Cottrell

Reform UK leader confronts journalist after question about gifts from friend and convicted fraudster

Nigel Farage has said Sky News bosses face “serious consequences” in an outburst triggered by questions over fresh revelations about his finances.

The Reform UK leader has faced renewed scrutiny after the Sunday Times revealed he had received funding from his longtime ally, the convicted fraudster George Cottrell.

Farage, the MP for Clacton, is also being investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog over a £5m gift received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne in the weeks before announcing he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election.

Farage appeared to lose his temper as he was approached by a Sky News journalist who asked him if it had been a mistake not to declare the gifts from Cottrell.

“You tell your bosses: you harass my family any more, there will be serious consequences, that’s what your organisation has done this morning, now go away,” he said as he returned from Independence Day celebrations in the US.

Asked the question again, Farage continued: “Did you not hear me? You have broken all the rules, Leveson and everything else, cut.”

The Leveson inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press after the News International phone-hacking scandal.

Sky News said it had not contacted anyone from Farage’s family about the story.

Farage released a statement on Sunday evening in which he said he was the victim of an “establishment hit job” and said he had followed the rules over the support he had received from Cottrell .

Farage said: “I have done no wrongdoing, followed the rules and I am now considering legal action against the Sunday Times.”

On Monday night, Donald Trump appeared to back Farage. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president shared a link to an article on the National Pulse website titled: “They’re running the 2024 anti-Trump playbook on Nigel Farage”.

Cottrell was jailed for eight months in the US in 2017 after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud. He admitted attempting to defraud criminals on the dark web by masquerading as a money launderer. He was arrested as he and Farage travelled back to Britain after a trip to the US.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for parliament’s standards commissioner, who is already investigating the £5m gift the MP received from Harborne, to examine the support.

If found to have breached the rules, Farage could face sanctions, including a Commons suspension that could trigger a recall petition and a byelection in his seat.

Addressing the controversy on Tuesday, Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, claimed voters had shown they were not concerned by Farage’s finances, and added: “No one’s perfect.”

He did not refer to the latest row over Cottrell, but said Reform had succeeded in May’s elections after the revelations about the £5m received from Harborne.

He told the Institute for Government: “There have been lots of elections recently. The May elections were after Nigel’s gift was announced.

“The last two weeks of [council] byelections, we’re winning them by significant percentages. We’ve won most of them. So, ultimately, got to trust the voter and the voters will tell us.”

He added: “Are we available to scrutiny? Of course. Is everybody perfect? No, no one’s perfect.”

He also said the country had to change its culture so “working hard, being successful, making money, employing people … is a good thing”.

He said: “In a sense, we have to celebrate that, because otherwise, you constantly end up dumbing down, and then don’t be surprised if some of the best people don’t go into politics.”