Good morning. In a surprise announcement, yesterday Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said he would resign from the Commons so that he could fight a byelection in the hope of being re-elected as MP for Clacton. He thought a resounding win would somehow invalidate the parliamentary inquiry into claims that he broke parliamentary rules by not disclosing a £5m donation (and potentially other donations too). But within hours all the main parties had said they would not be contesting the byelection, and it may be that Farage’s only notable opponent is Count Binface.
The Telegraph, a paper that is normally supportive towards Farage (although that seems to be changing a bit – perhaps because new owners have taken control?), sums up the situation well with its splash headline.
View image in fullscreenTelegraph splash Photograph: TelegraphIf that will be unwelcome at Reform UK HQ, then they will be even less happy about the Guardian’s splash. In her exclusive Anna Isaac says:
double quotation markThe £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers who were concerned it may have been laundered money, the Guardian can reveal.
The disclosure will put further pressure on the Reform UK leader, who is awaiting a decision by the standards commissioner over whether his failure to declare the money breached parliamentary rules.
Farage was given a deadline of 1pm on Tuesday to respond to the Guardian about this article. He gave a video address at 2pm announcing he would force a byelection in his seat of Clacton-on-Sea.
Read moreView image in fullscreenGuardian splash Photograph: GuardianResponding to the Guardian’s story, Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, said:
double quotation markThis is an astonishing and deeply serious allegation. The circumstances surrounding Nigel Farage’s secret £5m ‘gift’ absolutely stink. Farage is engulfed in a major sleaze scandal and his attempts to distract won’t wash with the public. He’s desperately flailing and can’t get his story straight, and working people will conclude he’s just in it for himself. The Reform leader must finally come clean. He should publicly commit to cooperating with the National Crime Agency, fess up to the parliamentary watchdog over his finances - and face the consequences.
And this is from Lisa Smart, the Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson.
double quotation markThe wheels are completely coming off the Farage bandwagon. His stunt today is a desperate last ditch attempt from a man who knows the game is up. It seems we may have only scratched the surface on what is to come. We cannot play into this vanity project. All parties should refuse to stand in this by-election, so we can swiftly get back to letting the parliamentary authorities finish their probe on his increasingly dodgy financial dealings. The people of Clacton, and the whole country, deserve the facts.
There are plenty of other developments in this story, and today I will mostly be focusing on them in the blog.
But there is other news too. Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, speaks at the Local Government Association conference. Other speakers are Suella Braverman, the Reform UK education spokesperson, and James Murray, the health secretary.
Noon: David Lammy, the deputy PM, takes PMQs.
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