UK’s Nigel Farage to quit as lawmaker, seeks re-election to clear name

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says he will quit as a lawmaker and seek re-election to clear his name over financial allegations.

Farage said on Tuesday he will resign from his seat in Parliament, triggering a special election in which he will run. He said in a broadcast statement: “I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money.”

Farage is facing a probe by parliament’s standards watchdog over a £5 million (US$6.7 million) gift from a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire. Opposition lawmakers are seeking another investigation over donations from George Cottrell, an aristocratic crypto-gambling entrepreneur who served a prison sentence for fraud in the US.

No independent journalists were invited to film the announcement or ask questions.