Nigel Farage resigns as MP, vows to fight by-election

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has resigned as MP for Clacton, saying he will fight the forthcoming by-election.

Mr Farage said he has "never been angrier in his life", as he accused the media of trying to intimidate his family.

In a statement this afternoon to address public and media scrutiny of his finances, he said he has "not broken the law in any way at all", adding he had "not misused public money".

"This will be a people versus the establishment by-election," Mr Farage said.

"I will fight to win. I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started."

Mr Farage, a leading campaigner for Brexit, is one of the most influential politicians in modern British history.

For more than a year, his Reform party has led almost every national opinion poll and won local elections, posing a threat to the century-old dominance of the Labour and Conservative parties.

But in recent weeks he has ‌appeared irritable and uneasy after ⁠it was revealed he had accepted a £5m (€5.8m) gift from a billionaire crypto investor and not disclosed it.

He is being investigated by parliament's standards watchdog over the £5m (€5.8m) donation and has also been referred to the regulator over a report of separate ‌donations.

The revelation around the donation has sparked heavy scrutiny of ‌Mr Farage's finances and property. In recent days he has complained about ⁠reporters harassing ‌his family and press intrusion.

If Mr Farage is found to have committed a serious breach of parliamentary disclosure rules, he could be suspended from the House of Commons.

A suspension of ⁠10 days or more could trigger a recall petition, potentially forcing a by-election in ⁠his parliamentary seat.

Mr Farage had served as the leader of the UK Independence Party and resigned after the 2016 Brexit referendum, saying at the time that his political ambition had been achieved.

He later returned and launched the Brexit Party, which was subsequently rebranded as Reform UK.

Additional reporting by Reuters