👀 Richard Tice says he first learned about the inves👀 Richard Tice says he first learned about the investigation through media reports—and has accused the Metropolitan Police of becoming part of a “politically motivated campaign.”tigation through media reports—and has accused the Metropolitan Police of becoming part of a “politically motivated campaign.”

The Metropolitan Police’s investigation into Reform UK’s donations has widened to include two £250,000 payments that reached the party through a company controlled by deputy leader Richard Tice.

This latest strand came out of Guardian reporting digging into Reform’s finances and where several large sums connected to senior figures in the party actually originated. Scotland Yard’s inquiry itself dates back to February 2025, opened after a referral from the Electoral Commission. Police have confirmed detectives are looking at potential offences under Section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, the law covering attempts to disguise who actually funded a political donation.

Two people have been interviewed under caution, and early advice has already been sought from the Crown Prosecution Service. Nobody’s been arrested, and an investigation existing isn’t proof anyone’s actually broken the law.

How the money got to Reform

Britain Means Business, previously known as Leave Means Leave, is Tice’s own company, and he’s its sole director. In June 2024, just before the election, it received £1m that Tice says came from Fiona Cottrell. The company then passed £500,000 on to Reform in two separate £250,000 instalments.

When that money landed with the party, it was the company, not Cottrell, listed as the actual donor.

Bankers reportedly filed a suspicious activity report over the original £1m transfer, the kind of flag that’s meant to alert the National Crime Agency to a transaction worth a closer look, though it’s not itself evidence of anything criminal. According to the Guardian, neither the banks involved nor the NCA has managed to work out where that £1m originally came from, and the agency is reportedly now asking an overseas partner for help tracing it.

The police investigation now covers both of the payments Britain Means Business made on to Reform.

This sits alongside an already existing investigation into two separate £250,000 donations made directly to Reform in Fiona Cottrell’s own name in May 2024, worth £500,000 combined, and entirely separate from the £1m that later went through Tice’s company.

Put it all together and police are now examining four different £250,000 payments connected to Cottrell: two paid to Reform directly, and two that passed through Britain Means Business first.

The legal question here isn’t just whether whoever’s named as the donor was actually allowed to give money to a UK party. It’s whether the true source of that money was deliberately hidden. Section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act makes it a criminal offence to knowingly take part in an arrangement designed to disguise where a donation genuinely came from, and because that particular offence sits outside the Electoral Commission’s own enforcement powers, it had to be handed over to the police instead.

George and Fiona Cottrell have both been interviewed

Fiona Cottrell and her son George are understood to be the two people interviewed under caution so far. George Cottrell is a close Farage associate who previously worked as a fundraiser for UKIP, and was convicted of wire fraud in the US in 2017 after offering to launder money on the dark web.

He’s also faced separate scrutiny over support reportedly given to Farage before the 2024 election, staff, accommodation, security, and social media production. Farage has confirmed Cottrell paid for some filming and let him use a London property, but argues none of it needed declaring because it happened before he was back in Parliament. Cottrell’s own lawyers have maintained any donations from his mother were entirely her own decision, and there’s been no finding that he actually supplied the money attributed to her.

Tice says he found out from the media

Tice has previously confirmed Britain Means Business received the £1m from Fiona Cottrell, describing her as a permissible donor from a family he’s known for around 50 years, and has consistently framed questions about the payments as politically motivated. A Reform spokesperson said the party takes pride in its “stringent vetting of donations” and follows Electoral Commission rules and electoral law throughout.

What the Met actually said

The force repeated its earlier statement when asked about the latest reporting: “An investigation was launched in February 2025 after a referral was made to the Metropolitan Police by the Electoral Commission relating to donations made to a political party ahead of the 2024 UK general election. Detectives from the Met’s Special Enquiry Team are investigating alleged offences under Section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Early investigative advice has been sought from the Crown Prosecution Service and two people have so far been interviewed under caution. No arrests have been made.”

Police also confirmed this specific offence sits outside what the Electoral Commission can investigate itself, which is why it’s the police handling it rather than the Commission.

Reform’s finances keep drawing more scrutiny

This latest disclosure adds yet another thread to the questions already surrounding Reform’s funding and the financial ties connecting Farage, Tice and the Cottrell family. Farage has separately faced scrutiny over a £5m gift from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne and the support reportedly provided by George Cottrell, consistently denying any rule-breaking and describing the wider scrutiny of his finances as an establishment campaign against Reform.

Until that work is done, the single most important question about these payments is still sitting there unanswered: who actually supplied the original £1m?