Reform UK leader failed to disclose funding from convicted criminal

George Cottrell, a former adviser to the Conservative Party who was convicted of fraud in 2022, is reported to have supplied money to cover the personal and operational costs of Reform UK leader Richard Tice, according to a Sunday Times investigation. The funding, the newspaper says, was used to pay for security personnel, drivers, staff salaries and accommodation for Tice, enabling the party’s head to maintain a full‑time political operation without drawing on the party’s own finances.

The revelation comes amid heightened scrutiny of political funding in the United Kingdom, where parties and individual politicians are increasingly required to disclose the sources of their support. Reform UK, which rebranded from the Brexit Party in 2021, has not commented on the source of the money or its compliance with electoral regulations. The Sunday Times report adds to a series of disclosures about the flow of private funds into fringe political movements, raising questions about transparency and the influence of undisclosed donors on party activities.