Britain's Farage resigns as MP to stand for re-election amid furore over gift worth millions

Farage said he had been thinking about resigning over the weekend due to the intense scrutiny he and his family are facing over allegations that he failed to declare a multi-million-pound gift. 

The scandal has led the British media to dig deeper into Farage's finances and unearth potential irregularities with other donations.

But Farage on Monday said he had done "nothing wrong" and as such would resign as MP in order to trigger a by-election in his constituency of Clacton in which he would stand for re-election so that the people could decide whether he should continue.

Farage, a leading campaigner for Brexit, is one ​of the ‌most influential politicians in modern British history. For ⁠more than a year, his Reform UK party has led almost every national opinion poll and won ‌local elections, posing a threat to the century-old dominance of the ⁠Labour and Conservative parties.

But in recent weeks he has appeared irritable and uneasy after it was revealed he had accepted ​a £5 million ($6.62 million) gift from a billionaire crypto investor ‌and not disclosed it.

He is being investigated by parliament's standards watchdog over the £5 million ($6.69 million) donation and has also been referred to the regulator over a ‌report of separate donations.

The revelation around the donation has sparked heavy scrutiny of Farage's finances and property. In recent ​days he has complained about reporters harassing his family and press intrusion.

The Sunday Times published allegations this weekend that convicted fraudster George Cottrell paid for Farage's security and staff who worked on his social media shortly before he became a member of parliament.

Cottrell, a 32-year-old crypto entrepreneur from an aristocratic family, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the United States in 2017 and was jailed for eight months.

Farage said in a statement late Sunday that he "followed the rules" and claimed it is "now clear the establishment will stop at nothing to hurt Reform".

The centrist Liberal Democrats have asked parliament's standards watchdog to probe the new allegations.

Labour MPs have asked him to investigate separate claims that Farage failed to adequately declare property interests and improperly lobbied the Bank of England over cryptocurrency plans.

If Farage ​is found to have committed a serious ​breach of parliamentary disclosure rules, he could be suspended from the House of Commons. A suspension of ​10 days or more could trigger a recall petition, potentially forcing a by-election in his parliamentary seat.

Farage had served as the leader of the UK Independence Party and resigned after the 2016 Brexit referendum, saying at ⁠the time that his political ambition had been achieved. He later returned and launched the Brexit ⁠Party, which ​was subsequently rebranded as Reform UK.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)