Richard Tice and Reform’s money - the new unanswered question

Before the 2024 election, Farage's deputy told me he'd stop donating to Reform - so why did £1m from George Cottrell's mother go to one of his companies weeks later?

Back in May 2024, I asked a simple question on Democracy for Sale: “Richard Tice has given millions to keep Reform afloat - why?”

The then Reform leader had loaned his party £1.08million, mostly through companies he controlled.

During an interview for that piece, I asked Tice whether he expected to have to put more money into Reform before the then upcoming general election.

At the time, Tice’s answer barely registered. This week, after reading the Financial Times‘ latest reporting on Reform’s finances, I went back to the recording.

One exchange is worth replaying. I asked Tice specifically, “would you expect to have to make more donations [to Reform] this year?”

He answered:

“No, because we’re going up in the polls. More money’s coming in. So in a sense, my entrepreneurial seed funding job is done…. We’re onwards and upwards.”

But now we know that just weeks later, in June 2024, £1,075,000 went from Fiona Cottrell - mother of Nigel Farage’s right-hand man and convicted fraudster ‘Posh’ George - to a company called Britain Means Business, which Tice controls.

On the same day Fiona Cottrell’s money arrived at Britain Means Business, Tice’s company sent £500,000 to Reform.

Then yesterday (Thursday) the FT’s Anna Gross revealed that Tice appears to have used more than half a million pounds he received from Fiona Cottrell to convert loans he had made to Reform into donations. At the time, Reform owed Tice almost exactly the same amount as Cottrell’s transfer.

(source: Financial Times)

As the FT’s graphic attests, the movement of money between Tice’s companies and Reform is complicated. It has also prompted questions about what should have been declared.

Former Reform deputy leader Ben Habib has said that if the rest of Cottrell’s money “was used to settle monies owed by Reform to Richard Tice, then surely it would be a benefit which both Reform and Mr Tice would have been obliged to declare to the Electoral Commission and in the Parliamentary Register? The public deserves a straight answer.”

There’s also the fact that the police are investigating donations from Fiona Cottrell and Tice’s company to Reform in 2024, the former over whether they were intended to conceal a donation by an impermissible donor.

These are really important issues. But reading back over my interview with Tice raised another question - one I haven’t seen asked.

If, as Tice told me, Reform no longer needed his financial backing because ordinary donations and membership fees were now sufficient, why did Fiona Cottrell’s money first pass through one of his private companies rather than go directly to Reform? It is not immediately obvious why that extra step was necessary.

This is a question that cuts to the core of who funds British politics — and who funds Reform.

Reform has sought to avoid scrutiny of its finances elsewhere. Shortly after the standards commissioner announced an investigation into the £5m ‘gift’ from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, Nigel Farage called a by-election in Clacton.

Tice refused to answer the FT’s questions, saying it was “not surprising no one reads the FT”, adding “it’s so boring”. I contacted Tice and Reform for comment on this piece but have yet to receive any response.

When I first asked Tice whether Reform would need any more of his money, the answer seemed entirely routine. Two years later, it looks like one of the most important answers he gave.

Democracy for Sale is dedicated to uncovering dark money and hidden influence in our politics and fighting against secrecy.

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