LONDON: The leader of Britain’s anti-immigration Reform UK party Nigel Farage was referred to parliament’s standards watchdog on Sunday after a report that he failed to declare some benefits, raising the possibility of a second probe into gifts he has received.

Farage is already under investigation by the standards watchdog over whether he should have declared a 5 million ($6.7 million) donation from a cryptocurrency billionaire he received before entering parliament.

The Sunday Times reported that Farage was provided with security services, social media support and accommodation by George Cottrell, a long-standing ally, in the year before Farage was elected an MP in 2024. Farage’s spokesperson said the story was “baseless and contrived”. “No parliamentary rules have been broken,” he said.

But Josh Babarinde, a lawmaker in Britain’s Liberal Democrats party, wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Sunday, calling for an investigation into the new allegations.

“Given the value and nature of the support described, there is a serious question as to whether Mr Farage met his obligations under the Code of Conduct for MPs,” he said in a letter he made public on X. “This is not an isolated concern.

The right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party tops national opinion polls, making Farage a possible future prime minister after a 2029 election, and raising scrutiny of the party and its leader’s finances.

According to the Sunday Times, Cottrell went to prison in the United States in 2017 after pleading guilty to wire fraud and now works in cryptocurrency. Under parliamentary rules, new MPs must declare financial interests and “registrable benefits” received in the previous 12 months, although personal gifts are exempt.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2026