Nigel Farage resigns as MP to fight by-election amid finances row

Nigel Farage says he will resign as MP for Clacton and stand in the subsequent by-election, after facing intense scrutiny over financial support he has received. The Reform UK leader said the "people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions", as he insisted he has done nothing wrong. But the Conservatives, Labour, Restore Britain, the Lib Dems and the Greens have ruled out standing candidates against him, in an effective boycott by his main opponents. Farage has been under investigation from Parliament's standards commissioner since May after not declaring a £5m gift he received from a billionaire Reform donor before he became an MP. Opposition parties have been calling for a further such probe, after it emerged he did not disclose support reportedly provided by a different political ally. Farage claimed parliamentary standards investigations were "now being used as a political tool" and he did not want to be "judged" by the media, before announcing he would force a by-election in which he would stand. In a live video statement released to the media by Reform, he said the by-election would give voters the chance to "stick two fingers up at the entire establishment". But Labour