Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice is under investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog for allegedly failing to declare an interest during a parliamentary debate.
Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary standards commissioner, confirmed the probe was formally opened on 28th July, though he declined to share further details about its scope.
Tice has said the investigation centres on whether he should have declared an interest in Israel when speaking about the country during a debate on democracy at the Palace of Westminster.
In response to the announcement, Tice stated: “Contrary to garbage in [the] media: the Standards Commissioner is considering [a] complaint by [an unnamed] anti-semitic anti Israel lobby group over whether I should have referenced my register of interests at start of a debate on UK democracy and Israeli influence [sic].”
Separately, the commissioner chose not to investigate Tice over a loan received from George Cottrell, known as “Posh George,” a convicted fraudster and close friend of Nigel Farage.
Tice is also under police investigation over payments his company made to Reform UK ahead of the 2024 general election, adding further pressure to the embattled deputy leader.
The investigation into Tice comes as Farage himself faces his own parliamentary standards scrutiny, having quit the House of Commons to stand in a by-election in his constituency.
Farage had been investigated by the watchdog over whether he should have declared a five million pound donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne before the 2024 election.
That probe was suspended after Farage left the Commons but also examined whether he should have declared support from Cottrell, following reports in The Guardian and The Sunday Times about their financial ties.
Farage has maintained that he was not obliged to declare gifts because he was not yet an MP at the time they were received.
He triggered a by-election in Clacton as a deliberate challenge to the “establishment,” with mainstream parties choosing not to field candidates, leaving comedian Count Binface as his primary opponent.
Should Farage win the upcoming Clacton vote and the standards watchdog subsequently rules he should face suspension upon his return, he could be forced to contest the seat again in a second by-election.
Major parties have pledged to field candidates against Farage if a second by-election becomes necessary, raising the stakes considerably for the Reform UK leader.
Restore Britain’s Rupert Lowe, the former Reform MP widely seen as a significant threat to Farage’s political ambitions, has offered to strike a deal and “put differences aside” in that scenario.