Farage daughter claim questioned by Tory MP as Reform leader previously showed off Kent home

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The Reform UK leader, who resigned as an MP on Tuesday, said a catalyst for his decision was the decision by Sky News to knock on the door of a property where his daughter lives.

The Times newspaper printed a picture of the house last week in article about Farage's property portfolio, describing it as the home of Farage's daughter.

It did not specifically identify the address of the property, only saying it was located in a "Kent village".

Ben Obese-Jecty, the Tory MP for Huntingdon, pointed out that images of Farage had posing for photos in front of the house had been in the public domain for over a decade.

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Writing on social media, he said: "Nigel Farage is complaining about The Times publishing a picture of this house, owned by him, that’s been in the public domain for over a decade after previously posing in front of it."

He attached images published in 2016 showing Farage standing in front of the same house pictured in The Times article, in one of which the address plate is visible.

Sky News has denied contacting anyone from Farage's family about allegations revealed in an investigation last week that the MP failed to declare millions of pounds provided by a convicted criminal and crypto-gambler, George Cottrell.

On Tuesday, the Reform leader published CCTV video footage from 7:41 am showing a blurred figure walking up the driveway before stopping to speak to someone in a car which had just pulled in.

The footage cuts to a clip, at 10:20 am, of a man wearing a t-shirt knocking at the door and speaking to an occupant briefly.

In his speech announcing his decision to resign, in order to trigger a "people versus establishment" by-election, Farage said the "final straw" for his decision had been the decision by Sky News to approach his daughter.

Sky News has denied speaking with anyone from Farage's family in connection with the story and said it did not attend the property at 7:41am.

The broadcaster said: "On a single occasion, we approached the property without a camera operator, identified ourselves as Sky News, and the adult occupant chose not to engage. We were seeking to contact Mr Farage to ask questions about the gift he accepted from Mr Cottrell.

"This is a well-established and routine journalistic practice when reporting on matters of legitimate public interest."

In his speech, Farage also claimed he is the "the most physically and verbally attacked politician of all time" and that the public only knew "about a fraction of times I have been assaulted".

"These are the kind of things I have had to put up with over the last years and over the last years it has got worse"

A Times spokesperson said: "We stand by our journalism, and do not accept that the published photograph identified the location of any property or presented a security risk."

The Reform leader is being investigated by Parliament's standards committee following reports that long-term ally George Cottrell had provided undeclared funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected.

Parliamentary rules state that donations received in the 12 months up to an MP securing election should be declared if they could have a bearing on their duties.

Farage has insisted he did not break the law by failing to declare the gifts.

However he could still be found to have been in breach of parliamentary rules.

The party leader pointed to electoral gains it made in May and said: “It seems to me that the establishment have now decided that they can’t beat us fairly, so they’ve chosen to use foul means.

“Let me be absolutely clear, after the furore and the media pile-on, well, not just the media, the other political parties too – let me be absolutely clear – I have done nothing wrong.

“I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money, and you know, for the first two years of being an MP, my personal MP expenses are zero, not of course that you’ll read about that in mainstream media.”