Nigel Farage resigns Clacton MP amid £5 million gift probe

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has announced he will resign as the Member of Parliament for Clacton to trigger a by-election, a move he says will allow his constituents to judge him amid an ongoing parliamentary investigation into a £5 million gift he received from a cryptocurrency billionaire. The announcement on Tuesday followed a weekend of intensified scrutiny over his financial dealings, including a report that the substantial gift had been flagged to the UK's National Crime Agency by concerned bankers.

The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, launched an inquiry in May into whether Farage breached House of Commons rules by failing to declare the £5 million sum from donor Christopher Harborne. The commissioner is expected to interview Farage before Parliament's summer recess begins on July 17. Under parliamentary rules, new MPs must register gifts worth more than £300 received in the 12 months prior to their election if they could reasonably be thought to influence their political actions.

Farage has consistently stated the payment was a personal, unconditional gift with no strings attached, and therefore he was under no obligation to declare it. He has...