Nigel Farage apologises for 17 breaches of MPs’ code of conduct

Nigel Farage has apologised for 17 breaches of the MPs’ code of conduct after failing to declare £380,000 of income on time, saying he is an “oddball” who does not do computers.The Reform UK leader and 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.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, who is the highest-earning MP, has previously admitted breaching parliamentary rules by failing to register a trip to Florida to appear at a fundraising event for Donald Trump. The Reform UK leader was the main speaker at the $500-a-head Republican Party dinner in Tallahassee in March last year.After the latest investigation, 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. Farage also said that he had never been in any trouble with tax authorities, did not claim expenses, and that he was not making money out of being an MP – but that his income was earned “because I am Nigel Farage”.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.”A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage is so distracted with tempting failed Tory politicians into his party that he can’t even get the basics right. He isn’t on the side of working people – he’s just lining his pockets when he should be standing up for his constituents.“He boasts about making money ‘because I’m Nigel Farage’, raking in millions through various outside jobs. But he neglects to do the important work that hard-pressed taxpayers fork out for him to do.“Labour will tighten the rules on MPs’ second jobs to make sure the public get the attention they expect and deserve from their elected representatives.”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.