I investigate the rich, populist and powerful – focused on Nigel Farage and his cronies. I’ve written for the likes of the New York Times, The Guardian, and New Statesman, have worked with Led By Donkeys, and have written two books on elitism and inequality.
“I’ve been really impressed by Sam’s work – persistently finding story after story exposing wrongdoing and hypocrisy at the highest level.”
– Carole Cadwalladr
Nigel Farage is on a self-pity parade, trying to make out as though everyone is picking on him over the millions of pounds of undeclared gifts he accepted from his donors.
However, and this is an outlandish suggestion, perhaps it would help Farage if he didn’t mislead people – a habit that tends to arouse more suspicion, not less.
Because that’s exactly what he did during an interview this weekend with Triggernometry – the right-wing podcast fronted by Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster (the one who just sits there silently and gormlessly).
During that interview, Farage attempted to explain why it was “no one’s business” that he received secret gifts from George Cottrell (aka ‘Posh George’) prior to the last general election.
Cottrell is a convicted fraudster and bona fide toff who’s been Farage’s right-hand man for years. According to Farage, Cottrell paid for him to goose-step along the white cliffs of Dover a few years ago and generally gloat at migrants making the perilous journey across the Channel in small boats. He also let Farage work in his five-storey townhouse overlooking Buckingham Palace.
According to Farage, none of this matters, because he “wasn’t in politics” at the time (campaigning about immigration sounds pretty political to me), and Cottrell hasn’t given him any gifts or donations since he was elected to Parliament in July 2024.
That’s what he said. Here’s the verbatim quote, and video below:
“I’ve taken nothing from him [Cottrell] since 3 June [2024]. And he hasn’t given money to the party”.
As the above clip shows, Farage was then given the opportunity to clarify his remarks, asked explicitly by Kisin whether Cottrell had “given any money to you since you came back into politics, or any ‘in kind’ things”.
Farage answered definitively: “no”.
That’s false.
As Farage’s declaration of interests makes patently clear, he has received gifts worth £15,276.72 from Cottrell since being elected to Parliament.
Namely, in December 2024, Cottrell paid for Farage to fly from Teterboro in New Jersey to Palm Beach in Florida, to meet far-right tech trillionaire Elon Musk.
If Farage wants to absolve himself of blame over his dodgy donations, I would suggest he should first figure out how much money he’s received, and from whom. Although I can see why it would be difficult to lose track of all that crypto cash.
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Farage is a parasite living off the backs of the workers.He has never done what most people would think was work.