Nigel Farage effectively triggered this by-election by deliberately resigning from Parliament after an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which he didn’t like. Rather than wait for the investigation to conclude - which could have led to a subsequent by-election shortly after anyway - he threw his toys out of the pram. There is now also an ongoing police investigation into the donation allegedly made by the mother of the convicted fraudster George Cottrell.
If Farage wins this by-election, the parliamentary investigation restarts and if it finds against him, it’s very possible that there will be another by-election. So… vote Farage, get another by-election?
Farage has said slightly different things about his donations as time went on -it’s worth looking into the reporting on this. In June, he said that a donation that is the subject of an investigation was “unconditional”.
For my part, I would like to make it clear that I pledge one thing: to never do a deal to accept political donations in return for anything. So any donations to me will always be unconditional and unrestricted - or I simply won’t accept them.
Furthermore, when it comes to any donations to me personally 12 months prior to any election, I pledge to be on the safe side and always classify them as “political” if the donation is substantial (Farage’s receipt of a £5 million “gift” certainly qualifies) and the donor has ever expressed any political views or has any financial interests that might impinge on politics. I challenge Farage to make a similar pledge. And in general I will always strive to act with integrity in my public and private life.