The leader of Reform UK took to his social media accounts this afternoon, after much scrutiny in the past days and weeks.
During the livestream, which was viewed by more than 200,000 people, Farage made the announcement that he would stand down as the MP for Clacton and fight a by-election after coming under intense pressure over unregistered donations of cash and support.
After a long monologue he finished with the fact of him resigning as Clacton MP.
He said: “I have decided today, today I will resign as a Member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea, thereby forcing a by-election which should happen, I hope, in short order.
“Now I have decided the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions.
“This will be a people versus the establishment by-election – it’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment.
“To frankly tell them where to go.
“And that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election.
“I will fight to win.
“I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started.
“And I would say this to you the voters of Clacton. If I win, you win.
“Because if I lose, they win and we will never, with the two old parties, get the type of fundamental change we need to fix broken Britain.”
The Reform UK leader has faced calls for an investigation following reports that long-term ally George Cottrell had provided undeclared funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected.
Mr Cottrell reportedly recruited and paid three staff to work on Mr Farage’s social media before the general election, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian property he rented near Buckingham Palace.
Under the Commons’ rules, new MPs are required to register any gifts worth more than £300 they received in the previous 12 months, except where the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.
Mr Farage is already facing a parliamentary standards investigation over a £5 million gift from Reform donor Christopher Harborne before becoming an MP.
This is a breaking news story with more to follow.
