Fiona Cottrell’s son, George Cottrell, has been at the centre of a political row in recent weeks.
The Sunday Times has reported he supported Farage by paying for staff and security before the 2024 election, but these benefits were not declared once Farage became an MP. Farage has since stepped down as an MP and is standing for re-election in the constituency of Clacton.
Farage has consistently argued any money given to him before he was elected an MP came in a personal capacity and therefore did not need to be declared. Lawyers for Cottrell have said he “categorically disputes allegations and assertions made by The Sunday Times, which clearly fail to reflect what that publisher was told in advance of its reporting”.
Asked by the Sunday Times if Cottrell had transferred money to his mother before she made donations to Reform UK, his lawyers at Carter Ruck said: “Our client has confirmed his instructions that any donations by his mother have been entirely her own decision.”
George Cottrell has long been a close political and personal ally of the Reform UK leader.
He pleaded guilty to fraud in the United States and spent eight months in jail there, before being released in 2017.
Upon his release he moved back to the UK and now lives in Montenegro.
At a rally in Norfolk on Tuesday Nigel Farage said he had “absolutely no idea” whether George Cottrell had given money to his mother to donate onwards to the party, adding, “What’s it got to do with me how families sort out their finances?”
“If the money was hers legally and she gave the donation, I don’t see what the problem is,” he said.
Britain Means Business was set up in August 2017 under the name Leave Means Leave and campaigned for a “clean Brexit”.
The organisation was set up by Tice and John Longworth, a former boss of the British Chambers of Commerce and prominent Brexit campaigner.
Longworth left Leave Means Leave in January 2020, the month the UK officially left the EU.
A few months later Tice changed the organisation’s name to Britain Means Business. He now solely owns and controls the business.