Politics
Richard Tice flips out over reporting on his latest scandal
Reform UK and its senior politicians have embroiled themselves in several ongoing financial scandals, and deputy leader Richard Tice is now complaining that…people have noticed said financial scandals. Many of these controversies relate to funding the party received in the runup to the 2024 general election. And in what seems to be a clear sign that the Reform people are rattled, Richard Tice is now attacking the media outlets investigating him:
Both the BBC and Metropolitan Police appear to have acted in clear breach of legal obligations, contrary to well-established case law, in the BBC’s reporting about me over the weekend.
I have written to both the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and the BBC’s…
— Richard Tice MP
Richard Tice panic stations
Tice’s message read in full:
I have written to both the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and the BBC’s Director-General setting out these serious breaches. My lawyers have also been instructed.
Any media organisation considering repeating these allegations should exercise the utmost caution.
Tice has taken particular offence with the BBC, who reported the following:
Police are investigating payments to Reform UK by a company controlled by the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, BBC News has learned.
Britain Means Business gave the party two donations of £250,000 in the run-up to the 2024 general election, when Tice was party chairman.
Tice has said the money was given to his firm by Fiona Cottrell, a significant donor to Reform UK and mother of a convicted fraudster with close links to Nigel Farage.
The convicted fraudster in question is George Cottrell – a.k.a. ‘Posh George’. Posh George is also linked to other party scandals, having partially bankrolled Farage and Reform in the runup to the 2024 election:
EXCL by @ManuMidolo ft me @venetiamenzies @GeorgeGreenwood
The criminal who funded Nigel Farage made undisclosed donations to Reform in apparent breach of electoral law George Cottrell lawyers at Carter Ruck refuse to say when he became permissible donor https://t.co/yFEalCjDdr
— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) July 12, 2026
As with Tice, people accused Farage of trying to deflect from his scandals by focusing on everything besides the issue at hand. The key example of this was the Clacton by-election which Farage instigated for no obvious reason.
Deflections
Back to Tice, the BBC also noted:
The BBC understands that the party was not aware of the investigation into the payments from Britain Means Business.
So Tice’s issue is that the BBC and other outlets seems to have become aware of things he wasn’t aware of. In other words, he doesn’t seem to understand what ‘journalism’ is.
The BBC reported that the Metropolitan Police is investigating political donations made via a company controlled by Tice.
The Met confirmed this. Neither organisation claimed Tice is guilty.
Now he's threatening every newsroom that accurately repeats those facts. https://t.co/pnlEyXca1U
— Rebecca Tidy (@DrRebeccaTidy) July 26, 2026
Tice also seems to think that people are going to care more about how the revelations came out than the revelations themselves. This is optimistic on his part. It’s especially optimistic given that Reform has spent the past few months trying to deflect from its many scandals with pretty much no success.
As the Times revealed, the donations in question led to Reform’s bank blocking its payments for two weeks around the 2024 election:
BREAKING
Reform had its bank account frozen at height of general election after potentially illegal donations from George Cottrell's mother and Richard Tice We reveal Arbuthnot Latham, its bank, blocked payments for two weeks after suspect transactions https://t.co/2xPKI827mO
— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) July 25, 2026
The Times also reported:
Taking into account money she donated directly or via Tice’s company, Fiona Cottrell provided 35 per cent of all payments received by Reform during the [2024 election] campaign. She has never commented on the source of her wealth or the subsequent inquiries by the National Crime Agency or Scotland Yard.
Attention economy
By kicking up such a fuss, Reform and Tice could end up triggering the Streisand Effect; i.e. they could draw more attention to the story than if they just kept quiet. In other words, we encourage them to carry on kicking up a fuss.
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
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