Nigel Farage resigns from UK parliament but will contest by-election
Farage being investigated over £5 million gift from crypto billionaire
Reform leader Nigel Farage has resigned from parliament but will contest the by-election that will follow.
Under the British parliamentary system, a vacant seat is filled following a by-election in the relevant constituency. Farage's resignation means that voters from the Clacton-on-Sea constituency will soon return to the polls.
"I've decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions, that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election. I will fight to win," he said in a televised speech.
Farage's hard right-wing party Reform has exploded in British politics in recent years, usurping Britain's Conservative Party, which had been the country's primary right-wing force for over a century.
His resignation follows months of scrutiny over an opaque donation he received in the year before becoming an MP in 2024.
The parliamentary standards watchdog is investigating whether Farage should have declared a £5 million gift he received from the cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
A UK Times investigation also reported that George Cottrell, who was convicted of Fraud in 2017, had provided funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected.
Farage has consistently denied wrongdoing in both cases, arguing that what he received from both men was unrelated to his political activity with Reform.