POLICE have launched a criminal investigation into at least £500,000 of donations made to Reform UK by the mother of a convicted criminal who is at the centre of Nigel Farage’s donations scandal.
Fiona Cottrell, whose son is convicted fraudster George Cottrell, is at the centre of a Metropolitan Police inquiry looking into potential offences relating to “the evasion of restrictions on donations” to Reform, according to The Times.
Scotland Yard has spent more than a year examining potential offences which relate to “false” information about a donation, including the amount or the identity of the person behind the sum of donated money.
Officers are also looking into the possibility that donations were either concealed or disguised from an “impermissible” person.
Detectives from the force have reportedly interviewed two people under caution.
The Metropolitan Police’s inquiry is reported to relate to two £250,000 payments she made to Reform UK before the 2024 General Election.
Cottrell has had no history as a political donor and reportedly refused to answer any questions about her financial contributions since the probe began.
Nigel Farage confirmed on June 4, 2024, that he would stand for the Clacton seat in the general election after previously ruling himself out to become an MP on May 23.
It has since emerged that both donations from Cottrell landed in Reform’s account before Farage announced he would stand as an MP.
The first donation was paid into Reform’s account on May 9, 2024; the other landed in the party’s account on May 29, 2024.
Scotland Yard launched its investigation in February 2025 following a referral by the Electoral Commission.
The offence centres on section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which states that crimes committed under the act are punishable with a fine or up to a year in prison.
Cottrell also deposited a separate £1 million sum to a company belonging to Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, half of which was then donated to Reform, according to The Guardian.
The National Crime Agency was unable to trace the origin of where the seven-figure sum came from, according to reports.
Cottrell’s son is a long-time aide to Reform and provided funding for Farage’s operation, including for staffing, security and housing.
In 2017, he was jailed for eight months in the US after pleading guilty to a charge of wire fraud after admitting attempting to defraud criminals on the dark web by masquerading as a money launderer.
He was arrested as he and Farage travelled back to Britain following a trip to the US.
It emerged last week that he recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media before the General Election, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian townhouse he rented near Buckingham Palace.
After becoming the MP for Clacton in 2024, Farage registered a £9000 trip to Belgium donated by Cottrell, and belatedly added £15,000 for a US domestic flight, but no other support.
Under rules in place at the time, new MPs were 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.
The rules also required MPs to bear in mind the purpose of the register of interests to provide information about financial interests “which might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her actions”.
Reform UK denied that its leader breached the code of conduct.
