It’s normally Nigel Farage who seizes the megaphone, but his big Birmingham Reform UK party conference was metaphorically gatecrashed by Angela Rayner’s dramatic resignation, followed by Sir Keir Starmer’s shock reshuffle.
The massive Westminster news on Friday meant Mr Farage had to move his speech to avoid a clash with the prime minister’s reshuffle, as many a journalist like me dashed back to London to pick up an even bigger story than Mr Farage – not something he’s that used to these days, after a summer of nearly back-to-back coverage of his insurgent party and its policies.
But the news about Ms Rayner both detracted from and put the spotlight on him when it came to his own tax affairs.
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The Labour-backing Mirror newspaper published a story calling Mr Farage a “hypocrite” for criticising Ms Rayner when he also had questions to answer.
Because while Ms Rayner resigned after admitting she did not pay enough tax on a home she bought in Hove, East Sussex, Mr Farage was also under scrutiny for saying he had bought his house in Clacton, when in fact he had not.
Last November, Mr Farage told Sky News he “just exchanged contracts on the house. I’ve bought a house in Clacton”.
But in fact, Mr Farage, who owns multiple properties, hadn’t bought a house at all.
It was his partner who bought the house, and in doing so, only paid standard stamp duty as it is her main home.
Had Mr Farage bought the house, he’d have been liable for an additional £44,000 in tax as a second home purchase.
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There is no suggestion that Mr Farage did anything wrong, but he did misspeak and he used the house purchase in Clacton last November to deflect against accusations that he wasn’t invested in his constituency and didn’t spend any time there.
He admitted to me that he made a mistake when he said it was his property.
He said he “shouldn’t have said ‘I’, I should have said ‘we’. It’s her money. It’s her asset. I own none of it. But I just happen to spend some time there”.
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His admission comes after the Reform UK leader was challenged earlier this year over whether the property had been bought in his partner’s name in a way that allowed him legally to avoid higher-rate stamp duty – a charge he roundly rejects.
But it also seems that voters reject deputy party leader Richard Tice’s assertion that Mr Farage’s tax affairs were “irrelevant”.
Angela Rayner’s forced resignation because of her own failures on tax compliance shows that these matters, particularly at a time when the government is asking voters to pay even more tax, are very pertinent.
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Unlike Angela Rayner, no one is suggesting Mr Farage has broken any rules or owes any underpaid tax to HMRC.
But the lesson of this very long week in politics is that all politicians need to make sure their tax affairs are in order – and would do well to remember that the sniff test matters too.
