Where did Fiona Cottrell get all that money?

[Kingdomofsleep]

I've been a bit fascinated by this latest news about Farage and all the money.

The latest detail is that Fiona Cottrell, the mother of Posh George the crypto fraudster guy, gave Reform donations of £1m and £500k over the past few years.

However! She is a retired stylist who lives in a cottage worth between 500k and 1m, and inherited just £1.5m from her husband when he died. So, comfortably off, but not with millions to spare.

I mean, my house is worth around that (mortgaged), and my dh would raise eyebrows if I donated so much as £500 to a political party. Let alone £1.5m!

She seemingly hasn't earnt it or inherited it. So it seems like someone has given it to her to give to Reform. That someone didn't want to give it to Reform in his own name. If this is true, it's fraud apparently. Who is it? This could be so big.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/police-investigate-reform-donations-by-mother-of-fraudster-who-bankrolled-farage-3kd826j7h

A summary showing how key Cottrell was to the formation of Reform UK (from Bylines)

"Gambling" may have been the route the money reached G Cottrell.

But where did the money originate?

It does seem to have washed through a lot of hands.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to get past the paywall on this article at all. The link I shared previously no longer works, but if anyone manages to read it, please let me know.

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/nigel-farage-reform-leader-deal-george-cottrell-5gfrcrmb0

I have a subscription but I'm a tech innocent.

I'm going to try this...

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.

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.

Oh no that last copy pasta had the crapto word in it

Officials identified the payment but the Electoral Commission was not told and filings say incorrectly that the company was paid — a potential criminal offence.

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.

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
new
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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• 13:31 min
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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.

Oh dear I'm falling foul of the filters. I'm sorry, Gabriel Pogrund Insight Editor, that I'm flouting your pay wall and thank you for what you do! That was about half of it. If I was savvier I'd do that archive link thing

The gist of the article, as I understand it, is: Farage used as his excuse, for not declaring to Parliament about the 5m "gift", that it was given to him way before he ever intended standing for parliament. But The Times Insight guys have found conclusive evidence that he had been planning to become Reform leader and stand for parliament, and essentially was given that "gift" on that basis. The article then goes on to explain in detail what everyone's roles are, but I struggle to put a face to a name... (I admit that I'm mostly drawn into a story if the characters are a) women or b) handsome, and while the Cottrells fit that criteria, most of the other players in this drama don't...! Tbf I think news generally reaches readers more under these criteria)

Edit to add - sorry my copy paste flopped rather. I had good intentions

Working archive link for anyone interested:

Thanks for trying @Kingdomofsleep! it was helpful.

archive.today/3IzSG

I wonder if any of Nigel’s supporters will ever accept the fact this whole thing is crooked

Well it’s a cult of personality and so the true diehard loyalists take it any criticism of him personally, so the diehards will never accept any of it.

That said, it must be having some effect as his whole operation is falling apart, so some will have cottoned on. Most of those will be ex Tories who wanted a protest vote, I’d guess.

I think the only way will be if another party, most probably the Tory party, would adopt some of the more popular Reform policies/viewpoints. For example, I think most Reform voters are voting for them based on immigration policy and welfare reform. I think if a different mainstream party were to move towards the Reform stance on these issues, then all the dodgy dealings would be the tie breaker and they'd switch from Reform.

But if no parties do, then voters wouldn't care how dodgy they are.

I'm not sure anyone loves Farage for his personality, which is at best neutral rather than positively likable. They only vote for him because his soundbites acknowledge their priorities

I hope not because the Tories have already pledged to leave the ECHR and I don’t fancy that at all, thank you, never mind any more of their batshit harmful policies transferring to the Tories.

So that's a good example because there's a perception (which I understand isn't really accurate) that the ECHR is a reason we can't easily deport criminal migrants.

For example there's the horrible man who was one of the Rochdale p-do gang ringleaders who is about to be released from prison and they can't seem to deport him - Reform voters think that if they vote Reform, they'll remove some of the red tape behind these issues.

This is the kind of key issue that some other parties aren't even acknowledging. Leaving the goal wide open for parties like Reform to make wild promises about.

It's not about Farage's personality. There are real issues that Reform voters care about and would be willing to switch allegiance for, I think, if another party took on those issues.

It's not about Farage's personality.

It really is. Watch Reform fall apart without him at the helm. His more extreme supporters may move to Restore but Lowe doesn’t have the same appeal.

We'll see. I think Reform could survive without Farage.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Reform voter myself. I don't agree with all their policies and I couldn't vote for such a bunch of crims' puppets. But I see how they've filled a vacuum by acknowledging many voters' priorities in a way that (say) Starmer failed to do.

No doubt Farage was an eloquent mouthpiece for that but I don't think an irreplaceable one.

A large part of why concerns about immigration have arisen is BECAUSE Farage has spent his entire career campaigning against immigration, scapegoating and dehumanising immigrants to instil fear into masses of people.

He makes up lies, removes all context, twists narratives and capitalises on any true story that may come about to further his cause. It’s his path to power. If people started realising and stop falling for his tactics, he’d be totally irrelevant

Farage is in Russias pocket and it’s long been known that Russia is weaponising migration into Europe, which Brexit did a lot of good to help! He isn’t listening to concerns, he’s creating them and then pretending he’s the only person to solve them. It’s what all fascists do.

Thank you so much for this link. I was hoping it would be here on MN!

Well, well. Not looking good for Nigel Farage.

I must admit, I’m absolutely loving his downfall. It’s bringing me some long overdue joy and hope! ❤️

Exactly that @Teanbiscuits33. Once Farage had got his way over Brexit he had to find another way of stirring discontent so he started on immigration. With him gone there would be no Reform UK, not least because its funding sources would dry up.

AIUI, for the PSC It is irrelevant why Farage received the £5,000,000. It's the when. Donations 12 months prior to becoming an MP have to be declared.

However for the purposes of the criminal investigation which I imagine Farage is very keen to avoid, the why really does matter. Because it is illegal to accept payment to stand for parliament.

Because you can bet your bottom dollar Farage runs Reform like he would run the country - as a griftmobile - it looks increasingly like some of the responses the underpaid minions have been giving under oath are highly incriminating.

It's hard to avoid the feeling that Farage and fans are road testing various fairy stories to see which one they could best use in court. A sort of high risks A/B testing.