Mother of Nigel Farage’s aide George Cottrell gives £500,000 to Reform

George Cottrell spent eight months in an American jail in 2016-17. Photograph: James Manning/PA

Nigel Farage’s Reform party has attracted a new cadre of big donors including £500,000 from Fiona Cottrell, the mother of his high-profile, unpaid aide George Cottrell.

Fiona Cottrell gave the sum in two tranches shortly before the general election, making her one of the biggest donors to the party’s campaign coffers, along with Richard Tice, the party’s former leader, who gave £500,000.