Nigel Farage latest: Reform UK leader expected to ‘take a break’ from party amid donations scandal

Nigel Farage has begun delivering his statement on his future in public life.

The Reform UK leader is speaking mid speculation he could resign over a series of donation scandals.

The statement is being streamed by Reform UK, with no media present to ask questions.

Nigel Farage is expected to make a statement on his “future in public life” imminently.

The Reform UK leader confirmed earlier he would be making an announcement at 2pm.

The statement is being streamed by Reform UK, with no media present to ask questions.

We will bring you the latest updates here.

The Independent’s Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin writes:

Pollsters already predict a ‘Burnham bounce’ in the polls for Labour once the PM-in-waiting takes over.

But there were question marks over whether it would be enough to catch the party that has led the polls for more than a year – Reform UK.

However, were the party to lose its most high-profile member and leader, it could start to lose support at the same time as Labour gains it.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told a press conference that it is “not for me to judge” whether Nigel Farage had broken the rules.

But she criticised the way he and his supporters have been making threats to the press over the coverage of his scandals.

She said: “What we are seeing right now is the sort of chaos which we would see under a Farage government. I am working very, very hard to make sure that we don’t have a reform government.

“Our win in Aberdeen South showed that when Conservatives have a good economic plan… what surprised me most was what he said on Sky News…where he was being asked questions, and then talked about Levison, so he’s hinting at press regulation.

“For all of the criticism and the attacks, and I would even say abuse that I got from the press, I never once recommended us curbing our free press… I’m very worried about a reform government using government power to control the press.”

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox writes:

After arriving back in the UK on Monday in a foul mood, lashing out at the Sky News journalists waiting for him in the airport, a tired and angry looking Nigel Farage is set to give an emergency press conference on his future.

There has been mounting speculation outside Reform and concerns from within the party that he could simply walk away, although allies have told The Independent that he may just “take a break”, as the pressure takes its toll.

But in truth Reform has wasted two years of riding high in the polls building very little beyond him as a potential prime minister, meaning that without him on the scene the party is in severe trouble. Recent history tells us exactly what happens when Mr Farage so much as steps away.

When Mr Farage stepped down as Reform UK leader the first time in a bid to concentrate on his GB News career, Richard Tice as leader got the unfortunate nickname of “Mr 7 per cent” – the highest he could get in the polls. Only under Mr Farage did the popularity explode.

It is worth noting that Tice would again be temporary leader if Farage takes a break.

Before that, when he quit as UKIP leader after the 2016 referendum, the party nosedived as it went through a succession of alternatives.

So badly damaged was UKIP that, when Mr Farage came back, he had to invent a whole new party as a platform.

So no wonder there is panic in some circles of Reform about Mr Farage taking a break or stepping aside. Without him, they are nothing.

But the truth is that they are a dwindling force with him, too. A poll last week suggested that, with Andy Burnham as leader and prime minister, Labour may sneak ahead of Reform for the first time in almost two years.

And while the Tory brand is still damaged, their leader Kemi Badenoch is the most popular – or least unpopular – political leader in the UK.

It is fair to assume that, if Reform is no longer the party of the right that can beat Labour, then maybe people will start looking again at the Tories.

It is not yet known for certain what Nigel Farage will be saying in his statement this afternoon about his future in public life.

But some have speculated that he may be announcing his resignation as an MP, only to fight a by-election.

The move would serve as an opportunity for him to prove whether his donation scandals have meaningfully impacted the public vote.

But it also comes as there is a possibility the standards commissioner could trigger one anyway if he is found to have broken donation rules.

The Independent’s Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin writes:

There are three main names in the frame to take over if Farage does take a break from frontline politics.

The party’s multimillionaire deputy leader would be the most obvious person to step up into the role.

He has led the party before, between 2021 and 2024, albeit when they were much less successful in the polls.

He stood down to be succeeded by Farage and in more recent years has been the party’s business spokesman.

Awkwardly, he was once described as a “pound-shop Nigel Farage” by one of the party’s current MPs, ex-Tory Lee Anderson.

The party’s Treasury spokesman is a former Tory leadership contender who joined Reform only last year, after he was dramatically kicked out of the Conservatives.

Kemi Badenoch took to social media to announce that she had sacked Mr Jenrick after claiming to have seen “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect in a way designed to be as damaging as possible” to the Conservatives.

Hours later, as he joined Reform, Mr Jenrick launched an extraordinary attack on his former colleagues, saying the Tory party had “betrayed its voters and members” and was “in denial – or being dishonest” about its record.

As Treasury spokesman he has also clashed with one of his new colleagues in Reform, Zia Yusuf.

Last year Yusuf dramatically quit his own party, using a social media post to say that trying to get the party elected was not “a good use of my time”.

Just two days later he was back, given the job of identifying ‘waste’ in the councils the party now runs, inspired by Elon Musk’s role in Donald Trump’s White House.

Currently Reform’s spokesperson for home affairs, last month he publicly disagreed with Mr Jenrick over the details of the party’s deportation policy.

When Mr Jenrick said foreign nationals would not be removed just because they live in social housing, but because of other factors as well, such as if they were not working or earning enough, Mr Yusuf described his answer as “not Reform policy”.

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:

Friends of Nigel Farage have told The Independent that he is considering “taking a break” as Reform UK leader to clear his name of sleaze allegations but “will not run away.”

Mr Farage has been discussing his frustrations with friends and allies while on a visit to the US to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

He is said to be “angry and depressed” at the way things have turned against him and intends to name and shame individual Sky News journalists who spoke to his daughter this week.

An ally said: “Nigel has been discussing taking a break to clear his name burt that does not mean he is stepping down or will give up.“He has never run away from anything and he will not now.”

They added: “Nigel is really, really angry about the coverage particularly with the way Sky doorstepped his daughter.

“You will hear a lot about that at the press conference, he has kept receipts and names.”

The press conference comes after a series of scandals involving a £5 million donation from crypto billionaire Chris Harborne and his association with convicted criminal George Cottrell who also gave him gifts.

The Reform UK leader has been reported to the Electoral Commissioner and Parliamentary standards watchdog.

If he takes a break, deputy leader Richard Tice would step in as temporary leader.

Nigel Farage has announced he will deliver a statement on his political future, hours after he was seen lashing out at a Sky News reporter asking him questions about his financial donations.

“You tell your bosses, you harass my family anymore. I’ll take these serious consequences. That’s what your organisation has done this morning. Go away,” Farage said while returning from Independence Day celebrations in Washington.

Sky News said it had not contacted anyone from Mr Farage’s family about the story.

But the Reform UK leader later said this was “an outright lie”, accusing the broadcaster of having “hounded” his daughter at home.