My home in Clacton is my partner’s, says Farage

Farage now insists the property was solely bought by his partner, Laure Ferrari, and has told reporters it was her “sole asset”. The Reform UK leader would have faced an extra tax bill of about £44,000 for additional properties if it had been registered in his name. He has described claims that he may have saved tax on the property in Clacton-on-Sea as a “disgusting allegation, unfair and untrue”.

“I should have said ‘we’,” he told Sky News. “My partner bought it, so what?” He had previously claimed his name did not appear on the property documents for “security reasons”.

Farage was quick to exploit the political capital from the stamp duty row which ousted Angela Rayner, bringing forward his party conference speech.

Stamp duty is paid at rates of up to 5% for residential properties, but an additional 5% is levied for buyers who already own one or more properties. Stamp duty on the new constituency home, which cost nearly £900,000, would have been about £32,000, with an extra charge of about £44,000 for a second home, according to an investigation by the Mirror.

The Reform leader is reported to own a property portfolio worth more than £3m, with a £1m family home, two homes in Kent and a property in Surrey. He is the UK’s highest earning MP; he has been paid about £400,000 for his work for GB News and about £280,00 by Direct Bullion, which encourages investors to buy gold.

Farage’s tax affairs were “irrelevant to what voters are concentrating on, which is our messaging, which is the message of hope”, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice said.

Farage has faced criticism over claims he was barely spending any time in the constituency.

Photograph by Jacob King/PA