Nigel Farage has admitted he was wrong to have said he bought a house in Clacton last year, with the property in fact owned by his partner.
The Reform UK leader said he misspoke when claiming to have purchased a property in his constituency before the general election.
“I should have said ‘we’. All right? My partner bought it, so what?” he told Sky News.
Had Mr Farage bought the house, he would have been liable for thousands of pounds in stamp duty payments on the purchase of a second home.
It comes after Angela Rayner was forced to resign as deputy prime minister for the underpayment of stamp duty on the purchase of a flat in Hove.
When Mr Farage was initially asked last November about how much time he actually spent in Clacton, he told Sky News he had bought a house in a bid to see off criticism of himself as absent.
He said: “I’ve just exchanged contracts on the house that I’ll be living there in – is that good enough?… I’ve bought a house in Clacton. What more do you want me to do?”
He had also told LBC he bought the Clacton house, adding: “That’s why you can see me out, often on a Saturday morning, out buying the essentials – limes, tonic, all that sort of thing.”
But, asked about the purchase after Reform UK’s conference, Mr Farage said: “I should have said ‘we’. All right? My partner bought it, so what?”
He said it was “her money” and “her asset”.
“I own none of it. But I just happen to spend some time there.”
He added: “I should have rephrased it. I didn’t want … to put her in the public domain.”
Mr Farage’s deputy Richard Tice had earlier said the party leader’s tax affairs are “irrelevant” to voters.
Questions about the purchase have resurfaced after Angela Rayner resigned on Friday over underpaying stamp duty on a seaside flat she bought this year.
Mr Farage said the resignation of the deputy prime minister “screams to entitlement” during his speech to the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham.
Mr Tice, the party deputy, was asked on Saturday whether Mr Farage would be transparent about his tax affairs and address questions over his partner buying the Clacton home.
He told Times Radio: “I’m pleased to confirm I’m not his tax adviser. You’ll have to speak to them.
“It’s irrelevant to what voters are concentrating on, which is our messaging, which is the message of hope. We can get out of this nightmare that we’re in.”
Mr Farage has denied the arrangement had saved tax, telling The Mirror it was a “disgusting allegation” that is “unfair and untrue”.
Separately, Mr Farage has also reportedly been using a private company to reduce how much tax he pays on his GB News media appearances and other work outside being an MP.
He has declared payments of more than £300,000 in the past year for hosting a show on the channel.
The Guardian reported that he diverts money earned from the show into his company, Thorn in the Side Ltd, meaning he paid only 25 per cent corporation tax on profits rather than 40%.
The use of personal service companies is not illegal but has been criticised in recent years.
Batting off the crowds as he walked into the Reform conference this morning, Nigel Farage admitted he uses a private company to pay less tax.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 6, 2025
Sky's @serenabarksing asks the Reform UK leader whether he uses a private company to reduced his tax bill
🔗 https://t.co/DWEpiPgOtf pic.twitter.com/ejd5INg58X
Mr Farage told Sky News he had “massive outgoings” and employed contractors when asked if he was using the company to pay less tax.
“No, I’m using it legitimately because I run a company that has overheads,” he said.
Asked if he paid less tax than he would if he was not doing it through a company, he said: “And there would be fewer people employed if I didn’t have a company”.
A spokesperson for Mr Farage told The Guardian: “Thorn in the Side Ltd has traded for 15 years and has a variety of interests. It renders the services of several contractors and is a properly functioning company.”
