Reform U.K.’s Farage resigns as MP, forces byelection

Nigel Farage, the leader of the nativist Reform U.K. party, resigned from his parliamentary seat of Clacton-on-Sea on Tuesday (July 7, 2026), saying he would run again in the byelection that has been triggered by his resignation. The announcement was made towards the end of an approximately 15-minute speech, during which he railed against “the establishment”, accusing the mainstream political parties in Britain and the media of unfairly targeting him.

Mr. Farage is currently under investigation by a parliamentary standards body for not registering a personal gift of £5 million from Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne weeks before he announced that he was running in the 2024 general election.

Mr. Farage has offered different explanations of the gift — from suggesting it was a “reward” for his Brexit campaign to saying it was funding for his personal security. He has continued to argue that he did not break the rules by not declaring the gift. The probe, launched in May, has not yet concluded.

There are, however, other allegations against the Reform U.K. chief. Over the weekend, the Sunday Times published a report alleging that Mr. Farage received funding from a longtime associate and convicted criminal, George Cottrell, funding his security, housing and staffing. Mr. Farage reportedly broke gift registration rules. The Liberal Democrats have referred this incident to the parliamentary standards commissioner.

Mr. Farage has repeatedly insisted he has done nothing wrong, arguing that the parliamentary code did not cover what MPs spent in their private lives .

“The press would rather our Members of Parliament had no assets and no wealth at all; they seem to fundamentally object to any MP who has outside income,” Mr. Farage said in his broadcast on Tuesday (July 7, 2026), adding that he was earning well in the 1990s as a commodity trader but did not do well financially as a member of the European Parliament subsequently.

Mr. Farage boasted that his actions led to Brexit (he had spearheaded the Brexit campaign as chief of the Eurosceptic U.K. Independence Party) and that he emerged from the process with “very little money”. Standards for MPs were being used as a political tool, Mr. Farage said.

“Now I’ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions. This will be a people versus the establishment by-election,” he added.

The £5 million was going to be needed for his security, Mr. Farage said, adding that he was the most physically and verbally attacked politician currently. He said the country was about to get a Prime Minister without a mandate, referring to MP Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor and MP, who is likely to succeed U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer imminently.

Mr. Farage on Tuesday (July 7, 2026) called for a general election. Reform U.K. had performed strongly in the May 2026 elections for local council seats in England and assembly seats in Wales and Scotland, at the expense of both Labour and the Conservatives although it has been losing voters to the far right Restore Britain party.