By Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice under police investigation
Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader and MP for Boston and Skegness, is now facing scrutiny from two separate bodies — the Metropolitan Police and the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
The police investigation, first reported by the BBC and subsequently confirmed by the Metropolitan Police, concerns two donations of £250,000 each made to Reform UK by a fundraising vehicle called Britain Means Business, a company controlled by Tice, in the run-up to the 2024 general election.
The money originated with Fiona Cottrell, a significant Reform donor and the mother of George Cottrell, a former Farage associate who was convicted of wire fraud in the United States in 2017. She is reported to have paid £1 million into Britain Means Business in June 2024, half of which was then passed to the party. The investigation was launched in February 2025 following a referral, and the Metropolitan Police confirmed that two people have been interviewed under caution. The Times separately reported that Reform’s bank account was frozen during the 2024 election period following the transactions.
Tice responded by questioning why the Metropolitan Police had briefed the BBC before contacting him directly, and wrote to both the Met Commissioner and the BBC’s Director-General alleging breaches of legal obligations. He and a Reform spokesman denied any wrongdoing, saying the party follows Electoral Commission guidelines strictly.
Following the Met Police investigation, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg opened an investigation on 28 July into an alleged “failure to declare an interest” when speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on UK democracy and Israeli influence.
Tice said the complaint had been made by what he described as an anti-Israel lobby group and disputed its legitimacy, noting that a separate complaint against another MP involving an undeclared donation from a pro-Palestinian organisation had not been pursued by the same complainant.
A referral to the standards commissioner by Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart concerning an undeclared £78,100 loan from George Cottrell to Tice’s investment company, Tisun Investments, in December 2024 — was declined by the watchdog last week and will not be investigated.
Developments unfold against the broader context of scrutiny bearing down on Reform’s finances, including the ongoing police investigation into donations connected to Farage’s personal finances before he entered parliament.
Left-leaning coverage has framed the accumulation of investigations as evidence of a pattern, drawing connections between Tice, Farage and the recurring figure of George Cottrell. Right-leaning and Reform-aligned outlets have been more likely to reproduce Tice’s framing directly — presenting the police and standards inquiries as politically motivated harassment of a party that poses a threat to the establishment — and to give prominence to his complaints about the BBC’s conduct.
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At the time of publication, the Daily Mail had not yet covered the UK standards watchdog investigation.
Richard Tice under investigation by parliamentary standards watchdog
