What are Farage and Reform being accused of?
Representation of the People Bill sparks fury from Richard Tice, but what is Nigel Farage being accused of?
Reform UK is facing further scrutiny over its acceptance of donations from crypto billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, as Richard Tice declined to say whether they have returned to the country.
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The Lords is set to consider restrictions on money from donors based overseas on Monday as part of the Representation of the People Bill.
This could apply a retrospective cap on foreign donations at £100,000.
Mr Delo has been based in Hong Kong but said in April he would return to the UK to avoid restrictions on overseas donors.
Mr Harborne was based in Thailand, but in June he was reported to have registered to vote in Hampshire.
The right-wing party's deputy leader Mr Tice declined to say when the pair, who gave twin £36 million gifts, returned to the UK.
Mr Tice said he was “not familiar with every day of every week that these individuals spend in the country”.
He instead accused Labour of “hyperventilating hypocrisy” in "trying to change the rules retrospectively".
Mr Tice said on Monday: “Everything we’re doing is in accordance with the existing rules and the rules of the legislation that’s going through Parliament as we speak."
What are Farage and Reform being accused of?
Accepting foreign funding (Channel 4 sting)
Reform officials Dan Jukes and James Orr stepped down after they were filmed meeting a man posing as the British-based son of a rich American businessman in an undercover report by Channel 4.
Mr Jukes told the undercover reporter that the donation for polling, seemingly paid to the consultancy JL Partners, was an “amazing sweet spot” that allowed the polls to be paid for without showing up in the “public records”.
The Metropolitan Police started an investigation into allegations of illegal foreign donations.
Channel 4 broadcast the sting on the eve of Reform's party conference.
Mr Farage told LBC: “They got a couple of our contractors to say things that perhaps should not have been said."
Complaints about Farage being 'racist' in his school days
Several of Farage's contemporaries from Dulwich College in the late 1970s and early 80s have gone on record to say that the Reform leader was "racist" as a student.
Yinka Bankole, who is of Nigerian descent, said: “He towered over me. ‘Where are you from?’ he asked. Within seconds of offering my rather confused and sputtering answers, he had a clear response: ‘That’s the way back to Africa,’ with an accompanying hand gesture pointing towards a place far away.”
A group of Holocaust survivors has since called on Mr Farage to apologise over allegations of racism and antisemitism during his school days.
Mr Farage said he has never made racist remarks in a “malicious or nasty way”. He has also said: “Any accusation [that] I was ever involved in far-right politics is utterly untrue."
Farage's expenses and extra income
In January, Nigel Farage apologised for 17 breaches of the MPs code of conduct, which included failing to declare £380,000 of income on time.
He blamed an aide for the error, saying he relied on other people to register his outside earnings because he is not ‘computer literate’, but said he takes ‘full responsibility’.
Mr Farage has been criticised for earning £1.2m a year outside of Parliament, which has included work for Direct Bullion, GB News and videos on Cameo, which speaking fewer times than other party leaders in the Commons.
Clacton property owned by Laure Ferrari
Mr Farage’s partner Laure Ferrari refused to answer questions in May about how she afforded a property purchase in Clacton.
It was later reported that the Reform leader purchased a Clacton property for £1.4m after being gifted £5m by Christopher Harborne.
Labour said: “The leader of Reform needs to stop dodging scrutiny and urgently answer questions about this purchase."
A Reform spokesman said: “Mr Farage had already passed proof of funds and the relevant checks before receiving the gift. The purchase was therefore already proceeding independently of it.”
Christopher Harborne and George Cottrell donations
In July it was announced that the Metropolitan Police were investigating a £500,000 donation to Reform UK made by the mother of convicted fraudster George Cottrell.
The potential offences being probed relate to disguising donations from an "impermissible source" or providing "false information" about the donation or donor.
He also failed to declare a £5m donation from Thailand-based crypto-entrepreneur Christopher Harborne, which could be judged to be against Parliamentary rules.
A Parliamentary investigation commenced, and the donations were logged under Suspicious Activity Reports by the National Crime Agency.
The fallout led to Mr Farage resigning as Clacton MP, with the investigation being suspended as he fought to win a by-election - which he did after seeing off 33 candidates, none of whom were from mainstream parties.
An irate Mr Farage, upon calling the by-election, said: “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.”