{"id":78641,"date":"2026-07-07T19:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/78641\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T19:30:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:30:36","slug":"britains-nigel-farage-to-step-down-as-mp-and-trigger-a-by-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/78641\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s Nigel Farage to step down as MP and trigger a by-election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage announces his resignation as a member of parliament while giving a statement on his ‘future in public life’ at Millbank Tower on Tuesday in London.Dan Kitwood\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage, leader of Britain\u2019s populist Reform UK, plans to step down as an MP and trigger a by-election so he can take on his critics. <\/p>\n

In a lengthy video statement released on Tuesday, Mr. Farage railed against the media and the \u201cestablishment\u201d for relentless attacks on him and his personal finances. He said he would resign as the MP for Clacton-on-Sea and run in a subsequent by-election, likely next month. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions. This will be a people versus the establishment by-election,\u201d he said in the video. <\/p>\n

Mr. Farage has built his political career as an outsider fighting against the forces he believes are holding Britain back. From his prolonged, and ultimately successful, campaign to pull Britain out of the European Union to launching three different political parties, Mr. Farage has sought to tap into voter discontentment over issues such as immigration. <\/p>\n

After failing to win a seat in parliament for decades, Mr. Farage made a breakthrough in the 2024 election. Reform won five seats, including Mr. Farage in Clacton. Since then, the party has topped almost every opinion poll and supplanted the Conservatives as the main opposition voice to the Labour government. <\/p>\n

Reform\u2019s success pushed Keir Starmer to announce in June that he will resign as Labour Party leader and prime minister. Mr. Starmer had faced growing pressure to quit from Labour MPs who feared the party would suffer a massive defeat in the next election with him as leader. <\/p>\n

But Reform\u2019s popularity has also led to greater scrutiny of the party and its leader. <\/p>\n

Mr. Farage has been under investigation by parliamentary officials since May over a \u00a35-million, or $9.5-million, gift he received from Reform donor Christopher Harborne, a British billionaire investor, in April, 2024. <\/p>\n

The Sunday Times revealed last weekend that Mr. Farage also received support from George Cottrell, a British businessman and longtime ally who was convicted of fraud in the United States in 2017. According to the article, Mr. Cottrell paid for some of Mr. Farage\u2019s staff ahead of the election and gave him the use of a house. <\/p>\n

Opinion: Even after the Brexit disaster, the Brits can\u2019t shake their love for Farage<\/a><\/p>\n

Under parliamentary rules, newly elected MPs must disclose any gifts or benefit they received in the 12 months before taking office. However, there are exemptions for benefits that are considered \u201cpurely personal.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Farage has argued that he followed the rules to the letter. \u201cLet me be absolutely clear, I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money,\u201d he said Tuesday. He added that it appeared that \u201cthe press would rather our Members of Parliament have no assets and no wealth at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also criticized the Sunday Times for running a photograph of his daughter\u2019s home which he said had \u201cdirectly threatened her security.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI will not tolerate intimidation of my family,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been angrier in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the by-election would be a chance for voters in Clacton \u201cto stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Historic shift’: Nigel Farage on Reform taking first London council<\/a><\/p>\n

The parliamentary investigation into Mr. Farage won\u2019t end because of his resignation. The Standards Commissioner\u2019s probe will resume if he is re-elected. The commissioner\u2019s findings could lead to his suspension from parliament, or even another by-election. <\/p>\n

Mr. Farage\u2019s opponents dismissed his resignation a stunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a gimmick designed to distract from serious allegations about Farage\u2019s funders,\u201d said Labour MP Andy Burnham who is the only candidate to replace Mr. Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister. He added, \u201cWhat really matters in politics is how we can change Westminster to take power for communities and bring it back to people to make life more affordable for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Mr. Farage was cracking under pressure. \u201cHe went on telly, having a hissy fit, because for the first time he is finally having to face some scrutiny after a very long honeymoon, and he cannot handle it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey urged Mr. Farage to pay for the by-election. \u201cIt would be a crime to waste taxpayers\u2019 hard-earned cash on this Farage vanity project,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Mr. Farage announced later on Tuesday that Reform was prepared to cover the costs. \u201cGiven that we asked for this by-election in the first place, it\u2019s only right that we pay for it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage announces his resignation as a member of parliament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[5564,5555,5420,345,5547,13,5565,1193,5546,5560,5561,5557,5548,5545,254,28,528,5559,5553,5576,5549,5550,181,5556,424,2441,5566,5551,5571,5572,5574,5569,5573,5567,5570,2843,5562,5563,14,654,5568,5554,1426,104,5558,5552,46,5575],"class_list":["post-78641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-britain","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}