Farage quits Parliament seat and says he will fight Clacton by-election

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has resigned as a member of Parliament and said he will run again in the resulting Clacton by-election, Al Jazeera reported. The move puts allegations about his financial backing at the centre of a new electoral test for one of Britain's most prominent anti-immigration politicians.

Farage announced the decision Tuesday at Millbank Tower in London, according to Al Jazeera. He said voters in Clacton, the constituency that elected him, should decide whether his conduct was acceptable.

In his remarks, Farage rejected wrongdoing and attacked what he called “the establishment,” Al Jazeera reported. He described the coming contest as a “people vs the establishment by-election” and urged supporters to use it to send a message to political institutions.

The resignation follows reporting by The Sunday Times that Farage failed to declare benefits paid for by George Cottrell, whom the newspaper identified as a convicted fraudster. According to The Sunday Times, Cottrell recruited and paid three people to work on Farage's social media operation before the 2024 general election.

The newspaper also reported that Cottrell continued to let Farage use a five-storey Georgian townhouse he rented near Buckingham Palace. Al Jazeera reported that Cottrell, 32, was jailed in the United States in 2017 for his role in a money-laundering conspiracy.

Farage said the benefits were for personal use and argued that parliamentary standards rules were being used against him for political reasons, according to Al Jazeera. He said he had not broken the law and had not misused public money, adding that making money was not a crime.

The parliamentary standards commission is already examining Farage over his acceptance of 5 million pounds, or about $6.8m, from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, Al Jazeera reported. Farage initially said that money would pay for private security.

Farage said his decision to resign was also driven by concerns about his family's privacy and safety after The Sunday Times report, according to Al Jazeera. He said he expected to need security for the rest of his life and thanked Harborne for providing resources that, in his account, removed that worry.

Al Jazeera described Farage as a far-right politician who has led Reform UK into the mainstream with anti-immigration rhetoric. His decision to seek re-election means the party's leader will try to turn the funding controversy into a mandate from Clacton voters while standards scrutiny continues.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.