An investigation was launched into the Reform UK leader by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on October 30, related to his earnings and visits outside the UK
Nigel Farage is facing a parliamentary investigation over a late registration of interests.
An investigation was launched by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on October 30, related to his earnings and visits outside the UK.
The investigation is believed to be into his failure to register a trip to Florida to headline a fundraising event for Donald Trump earlier this year.
Mr Farage, who last week unveiled plans to slash benefits, was the main speaker at a $500-a-head Republican party dinner in Tallahassee in March.
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Guests could pay £18,445 for a VIP ticket, which included having a photograph with the Clacton MP, according to promotional material.
Speaking at the time, Mr Farage blamed the failure to declare the trip in parliamentary transparency logs due to an error by his office.
In a statement, the MP said he had emailed details of the trip to his office but said: “Unfortunately, these submissions were not added to the register. This was an error.
A correction to the record will be made tomorrow along with an apology to the registrar.”
Under the parliamentary code of conduct, MPs must register any visits outside the UK that cost more than £300 and where the trip is not “wholly” paid for by the MP or by public funds. They must also separately report any “fees” or “payments in kind”. The deadline for doing so is 28 days.
Mr Farage was previously investigated by Parliament’s standards watchdog amid questions over whether he owns an undeclared fishing boat, only to dismiss the complaint.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg found that the fishing boat was owned by a company of the Reform UK MP for Clacton and was not a personal asset.
Earlier this year, The Mirror revealed Mr Farage has trousered one million pounds from 12 different jobs since he was elected MP ten months ago.
Mr Farage is comfortably the highest earning MP in Parliament, according to the House of Commons Register of Interests, and has managed this by devoting more time than any other MP to his outside interests – we can reveal he estimates that he spends 25 hours a week on his portfolio of 11 side hustles, according to his register of interests.
Since the Brexit referendum, Mr Farage has built up a £3m property empire and is now raking in around £100,000 a month. His latest outside job is working for Rupert Murdoch’s Australian media company New Corp as a commentator, earning more than £25,000 – the equivalent of a year’s salary for a new nurse – in just 19 hours.
Reform UK did not respond to requests for comment.