Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage has resigned as MP for Clacton-on-Sea amid heavy scrutiny of his finances. He said he would stand in the resulting by-election to allow constituents to “judge his actions”.
Mr Farage said the contest would be “the people versus the establishment” and that he would fight to “continue the political revolution” his party has started.
He made the announcement at the end of a televised statement in which he criticised what he called media intrusion into his family life and claimed that the “political establishment” was “waging war” against him by investigating his finances.
He said he wanted his constituents to decide if they still wanted him to be their MP after two years in the role.
After a lengthy speech in which he also complained about boats crossing the English Channel and suggested that “men cannot wear watches and women cannot wear jewellery on the streets” of London, Mr Farage claimed that if he loses the by-election, the country would lose out on “the fundamental change we need to fix broken Britain”.
Standards inquiry
In recent weeks it was revealed that Mr Farage had accepted a £5 million ($6.6 million) gift from a billionaire cryptocurrency investor and failed to disclose it.
He is currently under investigation by parliament's standards watchdog over the donation from British-Thai businessman Christopher Harborne, and faced being suspended as an MP if found guilty of misconduct, triggering a by-election.
The British government has been taking steps to clamp down on offshore donations to political parties after cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, including Mr Harborne, gave millions of pounds to Reform.
It was also revealed this week that Mr Farage had received financial support from an aristocrat who has been convicted of fraud in the US.
The Sunday Times reported that Mr Farage’s long-time ally, George Cottrell, had provided funding for his 2024 election campaign, including staffing and security.
Under the parliamentary rules in effect at the time, new MPs had to register any gifts worth more than £300 they had received in the previous 12 months, except in cases when the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to be related to their political activities.
Mr Farage did not disclose the support from Mr Cottrell to parliament, but denies breaking any rules.
The reports have prompted scrutiny of Mr Farage's finances and property. In recent days, he has accused reporters of harassing his family.
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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage poses with winning councillors outside Havering Town Hall following the 2026 local election results in May. All photos: Getty Images -
Mr Farage is interviewed by GB News near where two men were attacked in the Golders Green area of north London in April 2026 -
Mr Farage embraces former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman, who had defected to Reform, in London, in January 2026 -
Mr Farage poses with a named shirt on day one of the Reform UK conference in Birmingham in November 2025 -
Mr Farage attends a press conference on law and order in London in August 2025 -
Mr Farage celebrates as Reform candidate Sarah Pochin is declared the winner of the Runcorn and Helsby by-election in May 2025 -
Mr Farage speaks on stage during the Reform UK East Midlands Conference in Leicester in January 2025 -
Mr Farage after a woman threw a drink over him at the launch of his general election candidacy at Clacton Pier in 2024 -
Mr Farage shares a joke with boxer Derek Chisora during a visit to a gym in Clacton-on-Sea in 2024 -
Mr Farage at a campaign event in Sunderland in 2024 -
Mr Farage, then Brexit Party leader and member of the European Parliament, before the Brussels parliament was to approve the Brexit deal, in January 2020 -
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump greets Mr Farage at a 2016 campaign rally in Jackson, Mississippi -
Mr Farage, as leader of Ukip and a prominent Vote Leave campaigner, holds up the Daily Express as he returns home after buying newspapers in Westerham in 2016 -
Mr Farage speaks to members of the public at a cafe in Ramsgate in 2016 -
Mr Farage poses with the Ukip's EU referendum poster in Westminster in 2016 -
Mr Farage has a selfie taken as he canvasses in the Thanet South constituency in Broadstairs in 2015 -
Mr Farage is interviewed after being announced as Ukip leader again in 2010 -
Mr Farage on the campaign trail in Winslow in 2010 -
Mr Farage with Lord Willoughby de Broke, left, and Lord Pearson in London in 2007. The Conservative peers had defected to Ukip
'Making money is not a crime'
By resigning, Mr Farage hopes to stop the clock on the investigation.
During his speech on Tuesday, he insisted he had done nothing wrong, and that the donations were necessary for his own security as he was “the most physically and verbally attacked” politician of modern times.
He said he had run up bills to make sure he was safe, and was grateful to those who had supported him. He also claimed that the media opposed politicians making money alongside their work in parliament.
“Making money is not a crime,” he said, before criticising the current government for not having experience running a business.
He also called for a general election due to the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and accused his expected successor Andy Burnham of having “no mandate”.
Trying times
Mr Farage was previously the leader of the UK Independence Party, but resigned after the 2016 Brexit referendum, saying at the time that his political ambitions had been achieved. He later returned and launched the Brexit Party, which was subsequently rebranded as Reform UK. Much of its success was put down to Mr Farage's “man of the people” persona.
He has long counted US President Donald Trump as a friend, but the Republican's return to the White House did not bring the expected bounce to Reform's fortunes. Mr Farage fell out with Elon Musk, who accused him of not being tough enough on immigration.
For more than a year, Reform has led almost every national opinion poll and won in local elections, posing a threat to the Labour and Conservative parties.
However, the party currently faces one of its most difficult periods since it was launched. While it hopes to contend for government in the next general election, due by August 2029, and performed well in local council elections in May, it also lost three recent by-elections in Makerfield, Gorton and Denton, and Caerphilly. The Makerfield seat was won by Mr Burnham, the former mayor of Manchester.
