‘Posh George’, Two Passports, and a Fraudulent Identity

As scrutiny continues of Nigel Farage’s finances, Nafeez Ahmed investigates an assumed identity used by his right-hand-man George Cottrell – and how the convicted aristocrat’s former boss in the City became the treasurer vetting Reform UK’s donations

‘Posh George’ – the man described by Nigel Farage as “like a son to me” – has lurked at the heart of the Reform UK Leader’s political operations for a decade.

In 2016, he was Farage’s chief of staff and UKIP’s treasurer and chief fundraiser. By 2019 – despite his criminal conviction for fraud in the United States – he became a fundraiser for Farage’s successor political outfit, the Brexit Party.

More recently, George Cottrell has funded both Farage and Reform, with many of his gifts and donations going undeclared and now the subject of inquiries by the police and parliamentary authorities.