Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage is the leader of Reform UK and MP for Clacton. He was a founding member of UKIP - then the Anti-Federalist League - and served as UKIP leader from 2006 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2016, before co-founding the Brexit Party and then its rebranding as Reform UK. In June 1981, a teacher at Farage's private boarding school wrote a letter to the headmaster expressing concern at the prospect of Farage - then 17 - becoming a school prefect, describing him as a "fascist" and "racist". As an adult, UKIP founder Alan Sked alleged that in 1997, Farage had referred to the "n*gger vote", claimed "the nig-nogs will never vote for us", and that Farage wanted to stand former members of the neo-Nazi National Front as UKIP candidates.

Farage has a well-documented friendship with Donald Trump, speaking at a Trump rally in Mississippi in 2016 and becoming the first British politician to meet him after his first election victory. In February 2025, he told a Reform conference that he hoped Trump's second presidency "will serve as an inspiration to us". In January 2026, the Mirror reported that funders had spent over £150,000 on flights for Farage to support Trump since the 2024 general election.

Farage is the highest-paid MP from additional income since the July 2024 general election, earning over £1 million a year from a portfolio of roles including GB News presenter, Telegraph columnist, and promoter of gold bullion and cryptocurrency, channelled through his personal company Thorn in the Side, which reduces his tax liability. He holds nearly 500,000 shares in GB News through his company Thorn in the Side - a stake visible via Companies House filings but which Farage has declined to comment on - while critics have questioned whether his failure to declare the shareholding in his register of parliamentary interests represents a conflict of interest given his role as a GB News presenter. In January 2026, the parliamentary commissioner for standards found that Farage had breached the rules around declaring income 17 times, amounting to £384,000 worth of improperly declared income. Farage apologised and blamed a "gross, gross administrative error" by his staff, claiming "I don't do computers".

Farage's largest donor is Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, who donated £9 million to Reform in August 2025 - the largest single political donation in UK history - and gifted Farage a personal £5 million shortly before the 2024 general election, a donation Farage initially failed to declare until it was reported in the press. The Electoral Commission launched an investigation into the undisclosed donation. In July 2026, the Sunday Times reported that Farage had also failed to declare significant benefits, including staff, security and accommodation, provided by convicted fraudster and close aide George Cottrell, potentially breaching parliamentary rules. Farage subsequently resigned his seat and fought a by-election in Clacton on 13 August 2026, which he won. The Nerve reported that Harborne appears to have been present at Farage's November 2019 press conference in Hartlepool where he announced he would stand down 317 Brexit Party candidates in Conservative-held seats, a decision that paved the way for Boris Johnson's electoral victory.

In September 2026, Channel 4 News and investigative group Verbatim broadcast an undercover investigation revealing that senior Reform officials, including head of policy James Orr and close Farage aide Dan Jukes, had arranged for a US company controlled by the undercover team to fund party polling worth £32,500 in potential breach of rules on foreign donations, with Orr saying they "could easily get away with it" and describing the Electoral Commission as "completely useless". Farage met the undercover reporters over oysters and wine in his Clacton constituency, praised the polling as providing "bang for buck", and, when a scheme to channel a £500,000 donation from a US source through a UK-based intermediary was outlined to him, replied "thank you" and "it's all above board". Farage later told the BBC he "frankly wasn't even listening" during that part of the meeting. The Metropolitan Police announced a criminal investigation. Orr and Jukes stepped down from their roles. Reform denied any wrongdoing.

On climate, Farage has said "I'm not a scientist. I can't tell you whether CO2 is leading to warming or not", while simultaneously campaigning to abolish net zero and launching the UK branch of US climate denial group the Heartland Institute. Reform received at least £2.3 million from fossil fuel interests, polluters and climate deniers prior to the 2024 general election. On abortion, Farage has called the 24-week abortion limit "utterly ludicrous", and anti-abortion group Alliance Defending Freedom orchestrated his testimony before the US Congress in September 2025, where he appeared alongside ADF's own legal counsel.