The Sunday Times reports that in 2023, Cottrell put Farage in contact with Jack Anderton, a 25-year-old right-wing political activist from Liverpool, to help run his social media operation, particularly on TikTok – where Farage’s engagement surged.
It reports that Cottrell paid Anderton a salary equivalent to around £55,000 a year.
Later that year, Cottrell helped negotiate a £1.5 million fee for Farage to appear on I’m a Celebrity…, the newspaper reports, and started providing Farage with security, primarily composed of elite former soldiers, and drivers.
After Farage announced that he would stand as a Reform UK candidate in the 2024 general election and became party leader, he started travelling the country – often with Cottrell by his side.
One such occasion was Farage’s campaign launch in Clacton, Essex, where a milkshake was thrown over him.
Around this time, the Sunday Times reports that Cottrell began renting a residential property near Buckingham Palace, for which he is understood to be paying tens of thousands of pounds per month, and where Farage has been allowed to stay.
On 4 July 2024, Farage was elected as the MP for Clacton.
He then registered a £9,253 trip to Belgium in April 2024 donated by Cottrell, and later added a £15,276 donation from Cottrell for a US domestic flight he provided in December 2024.
No other support from Cottrell is listed in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
Cottrell is now reportedly lobbying the US president for a pardon. He also recently co-authored a book, How to Launder Money, which claims to be a guide for law enforcement, prosecutors and policymakers.
A spokesman for Farage said: “It comes as no surprise that the Sunday Times has chosen to publish this baseless and contrived story, covering a period of time when Nigel Farage was not even an active politician let alone an elected one, given that the newspaper backed the Labour Party at the last general election.
“Contrary to the story’s tone, no parliamentary rules have been broken.”