NIGEL Farage has announced he will force a by-election in his own seat as he finds himself engulfed in donations scandals.
The Reform UK leader called an emergency press conference to announce he would quit as the MP for Clacton and contest the race in a desperate bid to clear his name.
Capping three days of growing pressure on him after revelations in The Sunday Times that he had taken financial support from a convicted fraudster, Farage said: "Enough is enough."
He presented his bid to retain the Clacton seat as a way to give his constituents the final say on his political future.
Speaking at a press conference in Reform's London headquarters, to which no journalists were invited, Farage claimed that the media had been "haranguing” his family and accused The Times of having "directly threatened" his daughter's security by publishing a photograph of her house.
He earlier this week snapped at a Sky News journalist who had attempted to quiz him about help he had received from George Cottrell, a cryprocurrency gambler who served time for fraud in the US. Farage has repeatedly claimed that the broadcaster has attempted to contact his family.
In a statement on Tuesday, Sky News said it was "part of a broadcast pool operation" outside a property "linked" to Farage on Monday, adding: "We approached the property off-camera on a single occasion, identified ourselves, and the occupant chose not to engage.”
At the press conference, Farage said: "I will not tolerate intimidation of my family. I will not tolerate the location of where they live being revealed.
“I will not tolerate any of my family being endangered because of what I choose to do in public life, so yes, you can ask, am I angry? Well, I’ve never been angrier in my life.”
Saying that he had considered quitting UK politics to "make some real big money", Farage added: "And then I thought, why should I be judged today, or in history in the future, by Sky News and their ilk? Why should they be the people that decide my fate? When, as I repeat, I have done nothing wrong.
"I thought about it hard and I've 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've decided that the people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions, this will be a people versus the establishment by-election."
He added that he would be putting his name forward to stand, adding: "I will fight to win, I will fight to continue the political revolution that Reform has started."
In a lengthy address, the Reform leader suggested that it was possible "Whitehall will break the law to stop Reform winning power" and claimed to have "firm" evidence that the party's computers had been hacked.
In reference to the four parliamentary sleaze probes into his conduct, Farage said: "Standards are now being used as a political tool.”
He defended his £5 million undeclared gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, which he said was the "equivalent of a lottery win", he said the funds were to cover his security, adding: "I am the most physically and verbally attacked public figure or politician of modern times."
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for both the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to investigate the support from Cottrell, who funded staff for Farage before the last General Election.
The aristocrat and long-term ally of Farage recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media in 2024, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian property he rented near Buckingham Palace.
