The warning comes as an investigation into a £5m gift to Reform UK’s leader rumbles on
Rupert Lowe says Restore Britain would throw everything it has at a by-election in Clacton (Image: Getty)
Rupert Lowe says his party will throw “everything it has” at ending Nigel Farage’s Commons career if he faces a by-election over a £5million undeclared donation. The three-word warning comes as Reform UK‘s leader is under fire for the gift he received from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne in the run up to the 2024 general election, before he announced he would stand as an MP in the poll.
Mr Farage is being investigated by Parliament’s standards commissioner over the gift, which critics say he should have declared. If Daniel Greenberg recommends he is suspended from the Commons for 10 days or more, it could lead to a recall petition.
Nigel Farage would lose his seat if 10% of voters sign a recall petition (Image: Getty)
If 10% of voters in Mr Farage’s Clacton-on-Sea constituency sign the petition, he will lose the seat and a by-election will be triggered, in which he can still stand.
Mr Lowe pledged Restore Britain would mount a serious challenge in Mr Farage’s seat in Essex, which he won comfortably in 2024 with a majority of 8,405.
Restore Britain’s leader told the Mail on Sunday his party is now established nationally and has a “strong base” in constituencies such as Clacton.
He added: “If there is a by-election there, or indeed any neglected seaside town, we will fight it with everything that we have.”
Reform UK has been approached for comment. Mr Farage has repeatedly denied wrongdoing over the gift, insisting it was not connected to his political activity.
He acknowledged on Tuesday, June 23, that he could be facing a parliamentary sanction over the undeclared gift.
Mr Farage told the BBC he believed it was a “wholly private matter”, but appeared to concede that “the standards commissioner may take a different view”.
Under the rules in place at the time, new MPs were required to register any gifts worth more than £300 they received in the previous 12 months, except where the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.
The rules also required MPs to bear in mind the purpose of the register of interests to provide information about financial interests “which might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her actions”.
Mr Farage has repeatedly insisted that he was not required to register the gift, which he has said was purely personal and intended to pay for private security for the rest of his life.
He has also suggested the £5m gift was a reward for his campaigning to get Britain out of the European Union.
A poll published in May by campaign group 38 Degrees and conducted by Survation found 68% of the public were concerned about the gift, including about half of current Reform voters.
Asked how much of the money he had spent, he told the BBC presenter: “It’s none of your business.” He also said “no one cares, apart from the media” about the gift.
Pressure on Mr Farage grew further this week after Labour said Britain’s financial watchdog should investigate whether Mr Farage’s advocacy for cryptocurrency has benefitted his billionaire backer.
Mr Harborne, who is based in Thailand and is also known by the Thai name Chakrit Sakunkrit, has donated more than £25million to Reform UK.
The businessman was an early investor in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin and is reported to own a stake in Tether, a company which issues a so-called “stablecoin” with the same name.
Mr Farage and his deputy Richard Tice met Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey in October 2025, directly raising cryptocurrency.
Anna Turley, chairwoman of the Labour Party, this week wrote to the Financial Conduct Authority, asking it to investigate whether Mr Farage’s public pronouncements about Tether and other cryptocurrencies may have been intended to benefit his donor.
She said previously: “Despite what Farage may think, the British public have a right to know who is bankrolling a man seeking high office and what influence, if any, that money buys.
“The fact he thinks it’s not the public’s business to know shows what utter contempt he truly holds for the British people.”