Nigel Farage has apologised for breaching the MPs’ code of conduct after failing to declare £380,000 of income on time.
The MP for Clacton said he had relied on a senior member of staff to submit his income to the register of interests and had been let down, but he took full responsibility for the error.
Mr Farage claimed he was an “oddball” who was not computer literate, as he tried to explain the error, The Guardian reports.
The Reform UK leader admitted 17 breaches of the code. He blamed “severe growing pains” as Reform UK had been overwhelmed by administration and emails since growing in size and gaining MPs at the 2024 election.
The interests included his work as a broadcaster for GB News and payments for social media output on Google and X.
Farage told the standards commissioner: “Why have payments that have gone into my account been delayed? Well, gross, gross administrative error. And I’m a little bit shocked by [it], especially as some payments were put in months after I had [provided them].
“You may say: why don’t I enter those things myself? Well, I don’t do computers. I can come and fill in a register for you, but I don’t do computers. So I rely on other people to do those things for me. I’m not, I’m afraid, computer literate, which makes me yet more an oddball than perhaps I was before.”
He said there had been no intention to deceive anyone and that he had nothing to gain by late declarations.
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In his decision, Daniel Greenberg, the standards commissioner, found there had been a high number of breaches and that it was of high value, but he accepted that this had been inadvertent.
In his apology, Farage said: “I’m sorry. I apologise. I fully accept that I’m in the wrong in every way, because if your staff mess up, ultimately you’re responsible and that’s what happens with rank in life, whether you’re, you know, running a business or a member of parliament.”
Keir Starmer, the prime minister, has also previously been found by the standards commissioner to have declared his financial interests late, leading to eight minor and inadvertent breaches of the code
