Nigel Farage said he’d ‘bought a house’ in Clacton – it’s actually owned by his girlfriend
Nigel Farage claimed with great fanfare last year to have “bought a house” in Clacton – but it turns out the substantial detached property is owned in the name of his girlfriend.The Reform UK leader said he had “exchanged contracts” to buy the house in Essex last November, saying it should deal with criticism that he does not spend enough time in the constituency.However, the detached property in an upmarket part of Clacton-on-Sea was actually solely bought by Laure Ferrari, his partner of some years.Farage was asked by the Guardian why he had claimed to be the buyer, and whether the property had been bought in Ferrari’s name in a way that allowed him legally to avoid higher-rate stamp duty on the purchase of an additional residential house – given that he already owns other properties.He was also asked whether he was the ultimate source of funds for the transaction either by gift or loan and whether it was Ferrari’s sole property in the UK, which could make her eligible for standard rate stamp duty.
Farage said: “Whether I say ‘I’ or ‘we is pretty irrelevant.Laure bought the house; it is her asset.“The main reason my name does not appear is for security reasons.I would have thought that obvious.As for her other UK or French assets, that is purely a private matter.
”Stamp duty is paid at rates up to 5% for residential property but an additional 5% is added if the purchase relates to another property on top of ones already owned.Farage already has a property worth about £1m in the village of Downe in Kent, as well as two houses in Lydd-on Sea in the same county, which are owned through his company, Thorn in the Side.He also has property in Tandridge in Surrey.The Reform leader has faced criticism about the amount of time he has spent overseas, mostly in the US, since he was elected MP for Clacton last July.He has made at least nine trips abroad in under a year and this week has been on holiday in France, despite parliament still sitting.
This week, he confirmed he was on holiday, saying he was taking his first overseas break for three years apart from his stint in the I’m a Celebrity jungle – but that he was still writing articles and taking calls about fundraising for Reform UK.Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionAsked last November about how much time he spends in Clacton, he told Sky News: “I’ve just exchanged contracts on the house that I’ll be living there in – is that good enough? … I’ve bought a house in Clacton.What more do you want me to do?” He also told LBC in January that he had bought a house in Clacton, saying: “That’s why you can see me out, often on a Saturday morning, out buying the essentials – limes, tonic, all that sort of thing.”The Reform leader is so far the highest-earning MP this year, and data from his register of interests shows he has spent more than 800 hours on outside employment since being elected.In April, he got a 10th job, making £25,000 (AU$52,000) as a commentator for the Rupert Murdoch-backed Sky News Australia.
His other roles include a £280,000 job advertising gold bullion, a £4,000-a-month column for the Daily Telegraph, and presenting for GB News, which has paid him more than £330,000 since July,Farage has also made speeches, done social media work on Google, X and Meta, and sold personalised videos on Cameo, which has made him £125,000 since the election,In total, he is approaching £900,000 in outside earnings,
From matcha lattes to Dubai chocolate – how supermarkets fight to cope with TikTok trends
TikTok’s algorithm is one of the great mysteries of the modern age. What it deems to be interesting is fed to millions of users, giving it huge cultural sway, from fashion to music and politics. It is also increasingly influencing what we eat.Supermarkets were once the trendsetters, studying popular items on restaurant menus and recreating them on their shelves. Now the big shops are the ones being influenced, says Zoe Simons, a brand development chef at Waitrose
Trump announces Nippon Steel and US Steel partnership – as it happened
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Friday afternoon, Donald Trump said that he will also target Samsung, which is based in South Korea, and “any other company that makes” with a 25% tariff.“Or it would not be fair,” he said, adding that the White House will “appropriately have that done by the end of June”.“When they build their plant here, there’s no tariffs. So they’re going to be building plants here,” he said.When Trump first announced the tariff Friday morning, he targeted Apple CEO Tim Cook, who said recently that the company was shoring up manufacturing in India
Royal Mail faces Ofcom questions over missed delivery targets
The postal regulator has launched an investigation into Royal Mail for missing its annual delivery targets, with almost a quarter of first-class mail arriving late.The company, which has been fined more than £16m in the last two years for failing to meet the delivery targets set by Ofcom, said 23.5% of first-class mail failed to arrive on time in the year to the end of March.This is a slight improvement on the previous year, when more than a quarter of first-class mail failed to arrive within the one-working-day target set by the regulator.Under the watchdog’s rules, 93% of first-class mail must be delivered within one working day of collection, excluding Christmas
Reform UK promises to reverse ban on new North Sea oil drilling if elected
Reform UK has promised to reverse the government’s ban on fresh North Sea oil and gas drilling as a “day one” priority if elected to power, with the taxpayer taking a stake in the projects.Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, has met with senior UK oil executives in recent weeks to pledge the party’s support for the industry, which has been hit hard by the government’s windfall tax and moves to block fresh North Sea exploration licences.Tice told the energy bosses to expect a reversal of the government’s ban alongside billions of pounds of public investment in their projects if the party comes to power in the 2029 election.The public investments would effectively hand taxpayers an equity stake in North Sea fossil fuel developments, which have stalled in recent months after Labour swept to power with a manifesto that promised to end fresh exploration licences for new oil and gas fields.“As long as there’s oil in the North Sea, we should be drilling for it,” a spokesperson for Reform UK said
Thames Water boss ordered to tell MPs if executives received bonus payments
The chief executive of Thames Water has been ordered to tell MPs whether any executives have received payments from a controversial bonus package taken from a £3bn loan.Britain’s biggest water company admitted last week that senior managers were in line for “substantial” bonuses linked to an emergency £3bn loan. Thames claimed the payouts were vital to retain staff and prevent rival companies from “picking off” its best employees. The disclosure provoked fury as the company has said its finances are “hair-raising” and that it came “very close to running out of money entirely” last year.On Tuesday, the environment secretary, Steve Reed, announced the bonuses had been withdrawn by the water company after the Guardian revealed the chair of Thames Water had wrongly claimed they were insisted upon by creditors
M&S contractor ‘investigating whether it was gateway for cyber-attack’
An Indian company that operates Marks & Spencer’s IT helpdesk is reportedly investigating whether it was used by cybercriminals to gain access to systems at the retailer, which is battling a devastating hack.M&S said this week that “threat actors” had gained access to the retailer’s systems through one of its contractors – understood to be Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).The clothing, food and homeware retailer confirmed the hackers used “social engineering” techniques to attack them, such as posing as a staff member to fool a helpdesk into giving away passwords.TCS, which has worked with M&S for more than a decade, has been helping the retailer with its inquiries into the cyber-attack, which began over the Easter weekend. The retailer said the attack could cost it up to £300m in profit
Nigel Farage said he’d ‘bought a house’ in Clacton – it’s actually owned by his girlfriend
David Cameron in talks to join London law firm to advise on geopolitical risks
Scottish Labour accused of trying to hide candidate’s link to scandal-hit firm
Is Angela Rayner positioning herself for a Starmer succession race?
Wildlife charities urge Labour to scrap ‘licence to kill nature’ in planning bill
UK politics: Starmer accused of being ‘beneath contempt’ for attack on Chagos deal critics – as it happened