The Sunday Times
British Sunday broadsheet; reported George Cottrell's funding of Farage's security before the 2024 election.
Last refreshed: 8 July 2026
Timeline for The Sunday Times
Mentioned in: Crime agency to investigate its own data leak
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Banks flag £1m Cottrell payment to NCA
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Farage to quit Clacton and refight it
UK Local Elections 2026Mentioned in: Labour flags Cottrell's funding of Farage
UK Local Elections 2026Background
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1821 and published by News UK, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. It is the Sunday sister title of The Times and one of the UK's most widely read quality newspapers, known for investigative and political journalism, its Insight team, and the annual Sunday Times Rich List.
On 5 July 2026, The Sunday Times reported that aide George Cottrell had funded Nigel Farage's security and staffing before the 2024 general election, a story that prompted Labour to ask the Electoral Commission whether the funding should have been declared and whether Montenegro-based Cottrell was a permissible UK donor. The report opened a third parallel funding question around Farage's political operation, alongside the Harborne gift inquiry and the Stack BTC review.
The Sunday Times' political desk has a long record of breaking party-funding and donor-scrutiny stories in UK elections, and its reporting is frequently the trigger for subsequent regulatory referrals rather than the outcome of one itself.
What did the Sunday Times report about Nigel Farage's funding?
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Is the Sunday Times the same newspaper as The Times?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 8 July 2026. Editorial standards.