Farage explained that A’Zami would be in charge of both repaying and writing off the more than £1 million that Tice had lent the party via his company since 2020. The property developer’s money had been crucial in keeping the lights on at Reform’s headquarters in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire.
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insight
Nigel Farage struck Reform comeback deal long before election
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Supervised by the convicted fraudster George Cottrell, the agreement undermines Farage’s claim about when he decided to return to politics
Collage of Nigel Farage and Richard Tice against a light blue background, with "Reform UK" in an arrow and a stylized "Bank of England" script.
Richard Tice was demoted to deputy leader then Farage returned before the 2024 general election
Gabriel Pogrund
Emanuele Midolo
Venetia Menzies
Gabriel Pogrund, Insight Editor, Emanuele Midolo and Venetia Menzies
Saturday August 01 2026, 8.15pm, The Sunday Times
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Nigel Farage struck a secret deal to return as leader of Reform UK months before the general election.
Farage negotiated the pact with Richard Tice, then the leader, in March and April 2024. George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who had been secretly bankrolling Farage, supervised the discussions.
Under the terms of the deal, once Farage became leader Reform would repay or write off more than £1 million in outstanding loans it had received from Tice’s company.
The deal was first presented by Farage and Cottrell to the party’s treasurer in mid-May. Its existence undermines the Reform leader’s claim that he had no intention until June 2024 of returning to politics. Farage has used this to defend his failure to declare donations made to him in the year before he was elected as an MP, which triggered two parliamentary investigations.
George Cottrell in a navy suit and sunglasses leaves his house.
George Cottrell
PETER MACDIARMID FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
On Saturday, Reform sources acknowledged the existence of the deal but insisted it had been drafted for if, not when, Farage became leader. Asked why he would have signed such an agreement if he had no intention of returning as leader, they said it kept his options open. They said Farage had assumed he would focus his energies on campaigning for Donald Trump in that year’s US presidential election.
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Claim used as defence after £5m gift
Farage has claimed repeatedly that he did not need to declare a £5 million gift from the cryptobillionaire Christopher Harborne or in-kind benefits from Cottrell, as he was a media personality at the time. MPs must declare any benefit in any way connected to their “political activities” received in the 12 months before their election.
He told the “anti-woke” Triggernometry podcast last month: “At that period of my life, from 2021 to the third of June 2024, I was a broadcaster, I was someone that appeared on celebrity TV programmes, I was somebody that promoted some financial market products, but I was an influencer, I wasn’t in politics.”
Mehrtash A’Zami, the party treasurer at the time, said: “I was told about the agreement before the election was called. It commenced when Nigel came back. The essence was the schedule of repayments. I was told to implement it and acted to fulfil it in line with my responsibilities.”
The disclosures also raise more questions about Reform UK’s compliance with electoral law. The party is already at the centre of a Metropolitan Police investigation into whether the source its donations was disguised.
The Sunday Times Insight team can reveal that on the date of the first repayment, in June 2024, Reform sent £200,000 to a personal account belonging to Tice — and not to his company that had lent the money.
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Officials identified the payment but the Electoral Commission was not told and filings say incorrectly that the company was paid — a potential criminal offence.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage (left) and Brexit Party Chairman Richard Tice (right) walk down a street.
Farage and Tice campaign for the Brexit Party in 2019, before its rebranding as Reform
DANNY LAWSON/PA
How the deal came about
On May 22, 2024, Rishi Sunak announced a snap election would be held on July 4. By then, unknown to almost anyone, Farage had secretly been plotting a potential path to the leadership — and, in turn, the House of Commons — for some months.
In March and April that year, he and Tice had entered into an agreement on the future of the party. In mid-May, Farage discussed its details with two confidantes in an office space on the fourth floor of a townhouse near Buckingham Palace: Cottrell and A’Zami.
A’Zami, whom Cottrell first met as a teenager, had been the party’s treasurer since 2019, but he spent much of his time in Dubai and had become disengaged. Cottrell had asked him to return to the UK — and to his day-to-day duties — on the basis that Farage was making a comeback.
Rishi Sunak, dressed in a wet suit and tie, announcing a general election.
Rishi Sunak called the election in the rain on May 22, 2024
SUNDAY TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
Farage explained that A’Zami would be in charge of both repaying and writing off the more than £1 million that Tice had lent the party via his company since 2020. The property developer’s money had been crucial in keeping the lights on at Reform’s headquarters in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire.
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Farage presented a piece of paper that set out how he would return Tice’s money. Previously, according to financial documents, the loans were interest-free, repayable “upon request” and “only if the party cash position allows”.
This was now to change: Farage outlined a “schedule of repayments”. Over the next year, Tice’s company would receive regular six-figure instalments or convert previous loans into donations, bringing its £1,083,000 debts back down to zero. As treasurer, A’Zami would be responsible for handling the transactions.
Such details were withheld from almost all party officials. Ben Habib, then Tice’s deputy leader, said he had had no idea “financial deals were being struck at the top of the party”, suggesting that his trust had been “abused”.
When Sunak announced the snap election would be held on July 4, Farage admitted he had been “wrong-footed”. He said he would not stand and would instead spend his time “doing my bit” to rally support for Tice.
In the days that followed, however, Farage received entreaties from across the right to think again, and on June 3 he announced that he had returned as leader and would stand as MP for Clacton in Essex. Tice was demoted to deputy.