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Reform UK leader and British Member of Parliament (MP) Nigel Farage announced he was resigning from Parliament on Tuesday.
Farage claimed he was resigning to force a by-election in his Clacton district and claimed he would run in it.
“Today I will resign as a Member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea, thereby forcing a by-election, which will happen, I hope in short order,” he said in a press conference broadcast from the Reform UK YouTube channel.
“This will be a people vs. the establishment by-election. It’s a chance to stick two fingers up to the entire establishment, to frankly tell them where to go, and that is why I will be putting my name forward to stand in this by-election,” he said.
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Farage’s resignation followed a series of scandals surrounding gifts he received from wealthy donors while out of office.
Farage denied any wrongdoing, stating: “Let me be absolutely clear. I have done nothing wrong. I have not broken the law in any way at all. I have not misused public money.”
An investigation into Farage’s conduct by Parliament’s Commissioner for Standards is ongoing.
In May 2024, weeks before the July election that would return him to Parliament, Farage received a $5 million gift from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Farage and his allies have denied that the gift was improper at all, with Farage calling it “unconditional” and claiming it did not violate Standards rules as it came only during his time as a private citizen between his 2021 exit from Parliament and his 2024 return to the body.
He also claimed that the security funding was necessary due to an elevated intensity in the nature and frequency of threats to his life.
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“I am going to need security for the rest of my life and I cannot even tell you how grateful I am to Christopher Harborne, because now I will never ever need to worry about whether I’ve got the resource.”
Citing years of abuse, Farage said “over the last years it’s gotten worse,” citing an attack on his home and “literally, daily online calls for me to be murdered.”
Farage said he’s repeatedly asked the Home Secretary for help but was ignored, leading him to incur substantial bills on security.
He also revealed that, days after Charlie Kirk was murdered, Farage’s own security funding was reduced by 70%.
By abdicating his seat, Farage opens up a by-election, a Parliamentary snap-election resulting in a direct referendum for the seat.
By-elections for vacated MP seats typically happen within three to four weeks of Parliament issuing a writ of certification, likely placing the snap-election for some time in early August.
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