Richard Tice faces inquiry by standards commissioner

By Steph Spyro, Deputy political editor and envionment editor

10:49, Mon, Aug 3, 2026 Updated: 10:59, Mon, Aug 3, 2026

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice (Image: Getty)

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice is under investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog.

The MP for Boston and Skegness is being probed for failing to declare an interest while speaking during a debate in Parliament.

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It is understood that the investigation is focused on an alleged failure to declare an interest in Israel when speaking in Westminster Hall.

A Reform source said it was “baffling”, adding: “He was fighting anti-Semitism in Westminster Hall, and it ends up in an investigation.”

The probe was confirmed on Monday morning by the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

The investigation was opened on July 28.

The standards watchdog last week declined to investigate a complaint made against Mr Tice over an undeclared loan of nearly £80,000 from George Cottrell, one of Nigel Farage’s closest aides and a convicted fraudster.

The Liberal Democrats had referred Mr Tice to the parliamentary standards commissioner, which was investigating Mr Farage after it emerged that he received an undeclared £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

But the commissioner told the Liberal Democrat MP, Lisa Smart, that he was proposing to take no further action on the basis that her complaint had not provided “sufficient evidence” to justify a investigation into a potential breach of the MPs’ code of conduct.

Mr Tice received the loan in late 2024, months after he was elected as an, in a transaction that originally caused bankers to raise concerns with authorities.