Farage's Secret Deal: New Report Rewrites Reform Leader's Return Timeline

Folks, the timeline that Nigel Farage has been selling to the British public just collapsed. A Sunday Times investigation published August 2, 2026 reveals the Reform UK leader was privately negotiating his return to frontline politics months before he claims he ever decided to come back — and the man supervising the deal was a convicted fraudster. Labour says it all adds up to one thing: a stench of sleaze the public can smell from miles away.

Farage's Secret Deal: New Report Rewrites Reform Leader's Return Timeline

London, UK – August 2, 2026 — The Sunday Times reports that Nigel Farage was in discussions about returning to the political frontline from as early as March 2024, despite later insisting he had no intention of returning to politics until June 2024. According to the investigation, Farage renegotiated a deal — supervised by George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster and close friend — to return as Reform UK leader with the party's then-leader, Richard Tice, in March and April 2024.

Under the terms of the arrangement, once Farage became leader, Reform would repay or write off more than £1 million in outstanding loans it had received from Tice's company. The deal was reportedly presented by Farage and Cottrell to the party's treasurer, Mehrtash A'Zami, in mid-May 2024 — weeks before Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the snap election on 22 May 2024.

The Timeline Contradiction at the Heart of the Scandal

Here is why the timing matters, folks. Farage has consistently said he had no plans to return to politics until June 2024, and he has used that claim to defend not declaring the £5 million gift he received from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne in April 2024. If he had already signed off on a leadership return in April — as the Sunday Times reports — that defence gets a lot harder to sustain.

Farage's lawyers maintain the Harborne gift was unconditional and made without the expectation of Farage returning to politics. But parliamentary rules require newly elected MPs to register any relevant financial interests and gifts received in the 12 months before their election. The standards watchdog opened a formal investigation over the £5 million gift in May, and Farage is now subject to a second inquiry over allegations that he was financially supported by Cottrell.

Reform sources acknowledged to the Guardian that the deal exists, but insisted it was drafted for if Farage became leader, not when. They say Farage had expected to spend the year campaigning for Donald Trump instead of leading the party. Farage announced on 3 June 2024 that he was back as leader and would stand in Clacton — with Tice demoted to deputy.

A'Zami: 'I Was Told to Implement It'

Mehrtash A'Zami, Reform's treasurer at the time, tells a different story from the party line. Speaking about the agreement, he said verbatim: "I was told about the agreement before the election was called. It commenced when Nigel came back. The essence was the schedule of repayments. I was told to implement it and acted to fulfil it in line with my responsibilities."

Ben Habib, then Tice's deputy, said he had no idea "financial deals were being struck at the top of the party" and that his trust had been "abused." A'Zami, who first met Cottrell as a teenager and had been Reform's treasurer since 2019, said Cottrell asked him to return specifically because Farage was planning a comeback. A'Zami left the party by February 2025, returning to his business career in Dubai following disagreements over how payments and invoices were being handled.

The Money Trail: £200,000 That Went to the Wrong Account

Now let's follow the money, because this is where the story gets genuinely ugly. On 10 June 2024 — a week after Farage took back the leadership — Reform paid Tice £200,000. But the money did not land in Tisun Investments, the company that had actually made the loan. It went to Tice's personal bank account instead.

The same day Reform paid out that £200,000, it also took in £250,000, then another £250,000 two days later. On paper, that £500,000 came from Britain Means Business, another Tice company. In reality, immediately before those payments, Tice had received money from Fiona Cottrell — George's mother — who had herself received a matching sum from her son via a crypto exchange days earlier.

Those payments were made days before Reform's bank account was frozen and suspicious activity reports went to the National Crime Agency. They are now part of the Metropolitan Police investigation. Between January and April, Reform repaid Tice £270,000, and in that same window Fiona Cottrell donated £250,000 to the party again — this time in her own name. Tice ended up receiving less than half the money back — £470,000 — and writing off roughly £613,000 as retrospective donations.

Why the Electoral Commission Was Never Told

According to party sources, officials did not realise a serious mistake had been made until autumn 2024. Reform's first £200,000 repayment had not gone to Tisun Investments — it went to Tice's personal account. Party sources say officials wanted to correct the error and tell the regulator immediately, believing the Electoral Commission would treat an honest mistake leniently. That correction never happened. The commission was never told.

A'Zami's version of events is stark: "I was told the payment had been made and relied on my staff. I included that in my own records to the Electoral Commission. When I learnt money had been paid to a source other than the company, I tried to remedy the matter and notify the commission, but was stopped. I was not allowed to make it right."

The Electoral Commission has acknowledged the payments were misrecorded, saying Reform "did not clearly register repayments against previous loans," that a "reporting error" led to at least one "incorrect" public record, and that it is "amending our database" to correct the information.

George Cottrell: 'Posh George' and the $2 Million Question

At the centre of it all is George Cottrell — known in Westminster circles as "posh George" — Farage's friend and aide. Cottrell was jailed for eight months in the United States for wire fraud in 2017 and is now based in Montenegro. According to sources, Cottrell transferred more than $2 million (£1.5 million) to his mother Fiona in 2024, with each sum arriving shortly before she made substantial donations to the party.

Election law stipulates that donations to political parties can only be made by permissible donors: registered UK voters, UK-registered companies and UK trade unions. It bans concealing or disguising donations derived from an "impermissible" donor, or the use of "false" information about a donation including the amount or the identity of the donor. Both Cottrell and his mother have been interviewed under criminal caution by Scotland Yard detectives. Tice has said Fiona Cottrell was a permissible donor and he understood her son was too. Financial industry sources have revealed that transactions involving Reform's leadership have been referred to the National Crime Agency.

Labour: 'Grubby Pacts, Secret Gifts, Attempted Cover-Ups'

The political response was immediate and brutal. Bridget Phillipson, the chair of the Labour Party, said that if the revelations were accurate they "blow Nigel Farage's story apart." She said it would mean Farage "was privately negotiating his return to frontline politics while publicly presenting as someone who hadn't decided whether to return," raising even more questions about the secret £5 million gift from Harborne.

Her full statement is worth reading: "Grubby pacts, secret gifts, support from a convicted fraudster, attempted cover-ups and police investigations – it all adds up to a stench of sleaze the public can smell from miles away." Labour has said Reform UK is operating under exactly that stench.

Clacton By-Election: August 13 and the Stakes

Here is where it gets personal for Farage. He resigned as MP for Clacton on 7 July 2026 — 48 hours after the Sunday Times first revealed the extent of his relationship with Cottrell — and is now standing for re-election in the resulting by-election, due on 13 August 2026. The main parties have declined to field candidates against him; his main opponent is Count Binface, a parody candidate.

If Farage wins, he faces two separate investigations: the existing inquiry into the £5 million Harborne gift, and a new one into undisclosed benefits from Cottrell. If he is sanctioned for failing to declare, the political cost could be severe. But Farage has dismissed scrutiny of his finances as "irrelevant" and part of an establishment stitch-up. Asked about the Cottrell funding specifically, he reached for the same line he has used before on Harborne: "literally no one's business."

He has accused those raising questions about his financial backing of "demonising" him as part of a "coordinated pile-on" to stop Reform UK. He previously told the Triggernometry podcast: "At that period of my life, from 2021 to the third of June 2024, I was a broadcaster, I was someone that appeared on celebrity TV programmes, I was somebody that promoted some financial market products, but I was an influencer, I wasn't..."

The Bottom Line

This is not a footnote in British politics — this is a direct challenge to the credibility of the man who reshaped the right wing of British politics. The Sunday Times reporting, if accurate, shows Farage publicly playing the reluctant candidate while privately negotiating his return, with a convicted fraudster in the room. The Metropolitan Police and the National Crime Agency are both looking at the money trail. The Electoral Commission is amending its records. And voters in Clacton go to the polls in less than two weeks.

Whatever happens on August 13, the questions are not going away. The investigations will continue, the accounts will keep being examined, and the public will keep watching. Stay informed, folks — this one is far from over.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Reporting is based on sources cited in the article.