WESTMINSTER’S standards watchdog has opened an investigation into Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
The Clacton MP is being probed amid allegations relating to a registration of an interest, according to the UK Parliament website.
Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, will investigate whether Farage broke rule 5 of the code of conduct.
This rule states: “Members must fulfil conscientiously the requirements of the House in respect of the registration of interests in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
“New Members must register all their current financial interests, and any registrable benefits (other than earnings) received in the 12 months before their election within one month of their election, and Members must register any change in those registrable interests within 28 days.”
Reform UK has been approached for comment about the investigation, but Farage told The Independent: “It is not to do with any undeclared income.”
In March, Good Law Project said it had submitted a formal complaint about the Reform UK leader having taken “advice from a former spokesperson for the far-right agitator Steve Bannon, but he hasn’t declared it as a benefit”.
The project went on: “Documents released in the US reveal that the MP for Clacton received help with speaking engagements, political meetings, media appearances and travel from Capital HQ.
“According to a statement filed with the US Department of Justice, Farage was benefitting from an extremely comprehensive service. Between 27 September and 17 February he was in touch with the firm via ‘telephone, email and text’ almost every day – including Christmas.”
It's pretty awesome how dancing makes robots less intimidating. Looking forward to seeing more nontrivial Machine Learning on these robots. Credit: Boston Dynamics. pic.twitter.com/wnB2i9qhdQ
— Reza Zadeh 🇺🇸 (@Reza_Zadeh) December 29, 2020
Earlier in July, Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts shared figures showing that Farage had pocketed almost £1 million from outside earnings since becoming an MP, nearly treble the second-highest MP with outside earnings: Tory MP Geoffrey Cox.
“[[Nigel Farage]] has made nearly £1 million on top of his MP salary - Westminster’s top earner,” Saville Roberts said. “Plaid Cymru MPs are busy doing the job. Farage is busy lining his pockets.”
