UK: Nigel Farage resigns as MP, to run again in by-election
· DWThe best way to deal with growing scrutiny over undeclared financial support is to step down ... and stand again. That's the conclusion Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has come to by forcing a by-election.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on Tuesday said he would step down as a lawmaker to force a snap by-election in his own constituency.
He said he planned to run in that same by-election.
The Brexit referendum figurehead, whose party is leading national polls, has come under pressure over reports about undeclared donations and funding.
What did Farage say about the by-election?
In a televised speech, Farage railed against the media and accused the political establishment of trying to hinder his party.
His comments come as he faces scrutiny over millions worth of allegedly undisclosed political donations.
"I've decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions," he said, referring to the southeast England constituency he has represented for two years.
"This will be a people versus the establishment by-election," he added.
"I have done nothing wrong," said Farage. "I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money," Farage, a prominent ally of US President Donald Trump.
Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. However, it has been leading polls ahead of the governing center-left Labour Party and the main opposition center-right Conservatives.
Labour declines to run candidate in Clacton by-election
It remains to be seen how many contenders Farage would face in the coming by-election, which typically attract numerous minor parties attempting to send a message.
But the governing Labour Party has already declined to contest the vote.
"Farage is engulfed in a sleaze scandal and he’s desperately trying to change the subject," a spokesperson said. "It’s pathetic, and the Labour Party is not going to indulge it."
Meanwhile, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called Farage's announcement a "hissy fit."
She said Farage should "man up and answer some questions" instead of triggering an "ego by-election."
And Zack Polanski, the leader of the ascendant Green Party that claimed an upset victory at a separate by-election February, called Farage a "grifter."
"Nigel Farage is once again trying to con the public with this stunt — trying to duck the fact that his history of taking dodgy donations is finally catching up with him," he said.
Why is Farage under pressure over undeclared funding?
The right-wing populist party leader spoke after reports about support from longtime ally and convicted fraudster George Cottrell.
Cottrell, who served a prison sentence in the United States, reportedly hired and paid three people to run Farage's social media before the general election, and continued to let him use a five-storey Georgian property near Buckingham Palace.
A new MP must register all current financial interests, plus significant registrable benefits received in the 12 months before their election, within one month of being elected.
Farage declared a trip to Belgium and a US domestic flight paid for by Cottrell, but did not declare the rest of the support that he received.
Both the Labour Party and the centrist Liberal Democrats have called for a parliamentary standards probe into the allegations, as well as an investigation by the UK Electoral Commission.
A separate parliamentary standards inquiry has already been launched into a £5 million ($6.7 million) undeclared personal gift to Farage from Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. Farage claims that the money was a personal gift that he used to pay for security.
Edited by Zac Crellin
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